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/ 



THE 



ABDUCTION 



OF 



MARY KM SMITH, 



BY THE 



ROMAN CATHOLICS, 



9 

AND HER 



FOB 

BECOMING A PROTESTANT. 

]r^ ±. 



By Rey. M. /VLattison, D. D. 

PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 

1808. 



3Xm7 

AFFIDAVIT. 

As pastor of the Church to which Miss Smith 
belonged, and the prosecutor for her release from 
imprisonment, I have knowu all the facts in this 
case ; and having read the following narrative , 
prepared by Dr. Mattison, am prepared to say 
that, excepting the false testimony printed there- 
in, it is substantially correct, according to the best 
of my knowledge and belief. 

^ J. S. GILBERT. 

Sworn and subscribed this eleventh day of Sep- 
tember, A. D. 1868, before me, 

Stephen" B. Ransom, Master in Chancery 

of New Jersey. 



Entered accordin^^ to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by 

H. MATTISON, 

In the Clerk's Office of the United States District Court for the Southern 

District of New York. 




Roman Catholic Priest, Newark, N. J. 

Son op the late Bishop Doane, 
" High Church;^ Protestant EpUcopal Biahop of Mw Jersey. 



CONTENTS. 



• ♦ • 

PAGE 

Introduction 5 

I.— Early Life and Conyersion of the Abducted Girl. 6 

n. — The Plot for her Abduction, and How it was 

Accomplished 9 

III.— The Priest's Confession and Excuse for his Con- 
duct 10 

IV. — Commencement of Proceedings for the Release 

OF THE Prisoner 15 

v.— "Father Doane," the "Mother Superior," and 

• Mary Ann in Court 21 

VI. — The Suit continued — Respondents enter formal- 
ly UPON THEIR Defence 38 

VII.— An Adverse Decision, and a New Line of Defence. 48 

VIII. — Analysis of the Testimony, and General Remarks 

UPON THE Case 64 

IX. — ^FiNAL Hearing and Decision by the Court 69 

X. — Comments of the Press 71 

XI.— New Development — Mary Ann a Devout Catho- 
lic ! 82 

XII. — ^The Forged Letter Challenged — Correspondence 

with "Father Doane." 89 

XIII.— Present State of the Case and Hopes for the 

Future 101 

XIV. — Other Similar Cases of Abduction and Persecu- 
tion 110 

XV.— Startling Facts respecting Romanism 118 

XVI.— What Can and Must be Done 138 



INTRODUCTION 



The Eoman Catholic Inquisition, or Holy Office, as 
it is called, is a tribunal established in Roman Catho- 
lic countries to search out and try and punish heretics 
and those who disobey the law of the Church. It still 
exists in Spain and in Eome, and both in principle 
and in practice is now seeking to plant itseH upon our 
shores, and to find toleration and legal recognition 
under the flag and laws of our glorious Union. For 
wherever any person, old or young, high or low, is 
seized, shut up, or in any way punished on account of 
their religious belief, there the Inquisition is in active 
operation. And it makes no difference what the age 
or sex of the victim may be ; the principle is the same. 
No father, or master, or priest, has either a moral or 
legal right, in this land of freedom, to seek to make 
his child a Jew or a Christian, a Eomanist or a Pro- 
testant, by temporal pains and penalties. And it is 
to prevent the establishment of such a precedent, and 
to vindicate religious freedom and the rights of con- 
science, as well as to release an imprisoned and friend- 
less orphan, that the proceedings herein described 
have been instituted, and the following chapters writ- 
cen. In Austria, every child of fourteen can choose 
his or her own religious belief ; and even the " heathen " 



6 ABDUCTION OF MAEY ANN SMITH 

of China have just stipulated, by treaty, that "citizens 
of the United States in China, of every religious per- 
suasion, shall enjoy entire liberty of conscience, and 
shall be exempt from all disability or persecution on 
account of their religious faith or worship." And yet 
the Eoman Catholics of this country are imprisoning 
and half starving people to compel them to become 
Eomanists. For the case herein recorded is only one 
of several similar cases which are known to exist, and 
which should be called up and investigated with the 
least possible delay. But for the present, let the 
reader carefully ponder the following chapters, not for- 
getting the apostolic exhortation, "Remember them 
that are in bonds, as bound with them," and striving 
to feel and to act accordingly. 



CHAPTER I. 



Early Life and Conversion of the Abducted Girl, 

About the middle of January, 1868, a young girl by 
the name of Mary Ann Smith, who was living with 
Mrs. C. L. Brittins — a Methodist family in Newark, 
N. J.— went to the Franklin Street M. E. Church, of 
which Rev. James Rogers was jDastor, was awakened 
and happily converted to Christ. She was then a lit- 
tle over fifteen years of age, a bright active girl, of 
Irish parentage, but altogether American in conversa- 
tion and manners, and of more than ordinary personal 
attractions. Her mother died some six years before, 
since which time Mary Ann has been left to earn her 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 7 

own living as best she could, and has been out at ser- 
vice most of the time. 

Her father and step-mother are both Eoman Cath- 
olics, neither of whom can read or write, and, though 
living in a city abounding in the best of free public 
schools, this poor girl, now a young woman and deeply 
mortified at the fact, has been so neglected by her in- 
temperate and inhuman Catholic father, that she can 
neither read nor write ; but was trying to learn her 
letters in a Protestant family at the time of her 
abduction. 

Up to the time of her conversion she had been a 
devoted Eomanist, going to confession to "Father 
Doane" — the priest by whose order she was finally 
imprisoned — and praying regularly to the Virgin Mary 
and to the saints, as all devoted Eomanists do. But 
going for once in her life where God's truth was 
preached, she was convinced of her sinful and lost 
condition, and, with a truly penitent and believing 
heart, sought mercy at the hand of God. At least all 
the circumstances seemed to indicate this. 

Her own account of her conversion is, that being 
burdened wdth a sense of guilt as an awakened sinner, 
and while praying to the Virgin Mary, without finding 
relief, something seemed to whisper to her, " Why not 
pray to Jesus Christ ? Mary is away up in heaven, 
and may be she does not hear you. And if she does, 
may be she cannot relieve you. Jesus is everywhere — 
why not pray to him ?" And she did pray to him, and 
thus obtained a sweet relief from her burden, and a 
precious assurance that he had heard her prayer, and 
forgiven all her sins. She then went to the South 



8 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

Market Street M. E. Church, of which Eev. J. S. Gil- 
bert, is pastor, related her experience, and united with 
the Church as a probationer. A few weeks after- 
wards, for reasons hereafter explained, she left the 
family of Mr. Brittins, and went to live in another 
Methodist family. Learning of her conversion and 
connection with the Methadist Church, "Father 
Doane," a young Catholic priest of Newark, to whom 
she had all along confessed, tried to get her into cus- 
tody on a writ of habeas corpus y but his Catholic judge 
being out of town, he did not succeed. 

At this time she was at the house of a Mrs. Fitz- 
gerald — a most exemplary Christian lady, and the 
mother of Eev. Mr. Fitzgerald of the Newark Con- 
ference — v/here she was not only contented and happy, 
but was highly appreciated as a modest, well-behaved 
and faithful servant. She was regularly at her church 
and Sabbath-school, and not a whisper had ever been 
breathed against her character, or a suspicion enter- 
tained, so far as was known by her Protestant friends. 
The young people of the Church associated with her 
as a modest and pure-minded young girl, and com- 
muned with her as a sincere and worthy Christian. 
She had the entire confidence of her pastor, who 
never had, and has not now the slightest suspicion of 
her want of integrity or of virtue. 

Such were her condition and prospects when the 
Catholics entered upon the work of abducting her and 
confining her in a convent, to compel her, by imprison- 
ment, hard labor, hard fare, and despair of ever being 
released, to renounce the faith of Christ. 



BY THE KOMAN CATHOLICS. 9 



CHAPTER II. 

The Plot for her Abduction, and How it was 
Accomplished. 

At the time referred to there was living in the family 
of Mrs. Fitzgerald a Catholic servant girl, and through 
her the schemes of the inquisitors were carried out. 
First, Mary Ann was told that a cousin of hers, in 
Brooklyn, was dead, and to be buried at a certain 
time ; but when she proposed to go, Mrs. Fitzgerald, 
suspecting some mischief, advised her not to go, and 
she remained at home. It turned out afterward that 
the "cousin" was still alive and as well as usual. 
Then she was told that a child that she loved dearly 
was very sick, and that she had better go and see it 
before it died ; and either for that purpose or for some 
other, she went, one afternoon, to the house of Mrs. 
Carrolton, a Catholic aunt of hers. There she was 
met by " Father Doane," who, finding her " stubborn," 
as to giving up her religion, advised them to keep her 
there till she could be sent to a nunnery in New York. 
Accordingly, she was locked up in a room, and not al- 
lowed to go back to her home at Mrs. Fitzgerald's. 

To get her from Newark to the prison, they per- 
suaded her to " go and see the place," under the sol- 
emn promise that if she did not wish to enter the 
"institution" after she had seen it, she might come 
home with them. But once there, they turned the key 
upon her, and that was the last she knew of freedom, 
or of the society of friends, for many long and dreary 
months. 



10 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

Her going out that afternoon was the last that was 
heard or known of her by her Protestant friends for 
some three months. Her trunk and clothing were 
left at Mrs. Fitzgerald's, and when inquiry was made 
by her mistress, as to her whereabouts, she was first 
told that she was in Brooklyn, then that she was in 
Jersey City, and finally, that she was at her father's ; 
all of which was false. She had been spirited away, 
and locked up in a nunnery,. where she was kept in 
confinement all this time. Such is the dependence to 
be placed upon the word of Catholics, when anything 
relating to their religion and church is concerned. 



CHAPTEE III. 

The Priest's Confession, and Excuse for Ms Conduct. 

The sudden disappearance of a young girl, under 
such circumstances naturally awakened no little inte- 
rest in the community ; and in a short time the follow- 
ing appeared, under the head of " Local Matters," in 
the Neivarh Daily Advertiser : 

Alleged Religious Abduction. — Considerable sensation has 
been produced by the alleged detention of a young girl from this 
city in a Roman Catholic institution iu New York. It seems that 
a young girl, about fifteen years old, named Mary A. Smith, the 
daughter of Roman Catholic parents, professed conversion in the 
Franklin Street M. E. Church, on the evening of January 16th. 
She was living at the time in a Protestant family in Jefferson Street. 
On the 26th of January she joined the South Market Street M. E. 
Church as a probationer, and often expressed fears of violence 
from her own family, who, she stated, had become greatly incensed 
at her change of religious faith. 

On the 24th of March she left her place of residence upon an 
errand, and has not since been seen. Upon investigation of the 
subject by her Protestant friends, it appears that her father in- 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 11 

formed her that one of her cousins, an infant, whom she loved, was 
at the point of death ; she went to see it, but instead of the dying 
child met a priest, by whom she was taken to the " Convent of the 
Good Shepherd," in New York, where it is alleged that she is re- 
strained of her liberty, and compelled to labor and fast, with no 
probability of release unless she renounces her Protestant faith, 
which she manifests no desire to do. Such are the circumstances 
as they are reported by those of her Protestant friends who have 
become interested in the subject. It seems that her father, who is 
her natural and legal guardian during her minority, is the principal 
party concerned in the transaction, and the presence of the priest 
seems to imply that he consulted his usual spiritual adviser in re- 
claiming his child to his own faith. 

This " informal explanation " by no means satisfied 
the public ; and Mr. Doane felt himself obliged to ap- 
pear again in print, and this time over his own signa- 
ture. Here is his confession and excuse for his con- 
duct : 

AIle§[ed £^eligiou§ Abduction. 

Me. Editor : I had hoped that the informal explanation in your 
columns of a startling paragraph, headed " Alleged Religious Ab- 
duction," would have been sufficient; but it seems that it was not, 
at least with one member of the community, and who wrote to 
you on Saturday evening, who may perhaps represent others. 
This being the case, I must ask you to publish the following simple 
statement. I do not intend to enter into any controversy on the 
matter, but simply to state what I did, and why I did it. My con- 
science not only acquits me of all blame, but would condemn me 
if I had acted otherwise. I simply did my duty, and under similar 
circumstances should* do the same again. 

WHAT I DID. 

Some weeks ago the friends of Mary A. Smith came to see me, 
telling me that she was giving them a good deal of uneasiness : that 
she was neglecting her religious duties, being out late at nights, 
keeping company of which they disapproved, and that the persons 
with whom she lived were tampering with her faith. I told them 
to see her and ask her to come and see me. This they attempted to 
do, but she refused to see them. 

i then advised them to get a writ of habeas corpus^ and gave them 
a note for that purpose to Judge Teese. The Judge replied that he 
had not the power to issue a writ of this kind, and referred the 
friends to Judge Depue. They called upon Judge Depue, but he 



12 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

was out of town, and would not be back for a day or two. In the 
meantime the child paid a visit to her aunt, Mrs. Daniel Carrolton, 
in Lock street, and she sent me word that she was there. I went 
up to see her, and found her very headstrong and untruthful. 
Among other things she positively denied having had anything to do 
with any religious body other than her own. Finding her in this 
state, and knowing that so long as she was under the influences 
under which she was, it would be hopeless to attempt to reclaim 
her, I advised her father to take her to the Sisters of the Good 
Shepherd, in New York, which he did the following day. 

WHY I DID IT. 

I advised this course because, as I have stated above, I knew it 
was useless to try and do anything with her while she was under 
the influences under which she would be while in Newark, with 
persons whose motives I do not wish to question, as they, no 
doubt, thought they were doing a charity to the girl, but whose 
acts I must condemn, who were alienating her from her friends, 
and from her faith. Eeally, if anybody has been trying to prosely- 
tize, it is they, and not we, and the cap is on the wrong head. I 
knew that in the House of the Good Shepherd she would be kindly 
treated, instructed in her duties, and taught a trade by which she 
could afterwards support herself The Sisters of the Good Shep- 
herd, who were established in France many years ago, and who 
have houses in most of our large cities, and whose worth and use- 
fulness are recognized by all who know them, whether Catholic or 
Protestant, devote themselves to the reformation of poor girls who 
have abandoned the path of virtue, and to the preservation of 
others who show a disposition to evil, and the correction of dis- 
obedient and incorrigible children. Of both classes, they have at 
present, in their house in New York, three hundred — of course, 
kept entirely distinct. I have visited the child since she went there, 
and found her well pleased with the Sisters, and the Sisters in 
hopes that she would profit by their care and advice. I need 
hardly add that all stories of unkind or harsh treatment are abso- 
lutely false. 

Eeally it seems to me that this matter is being carried a little too 
far, the people of Newark being led to believe that some fright- 
ful act of injustice has been committed under the direction of a 
*' priest," when a Catholic father has simply removed his child 
from what he considered dangerous influences, and placed her in 
what is nothing more than a Reformatory School. 

I offered the other day, through you, to give any respectable 
person a note of introduction to the Sisters, but no one has applied 
for it. It seems to me that before any one else interferes iii this 
matter, they had better inform themselves thoroughly about it, or 
otherwise let it alone. 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 13 

. My motive before for requesting yon to correct the statement 
that had been made, editorially, was by no means an unwillingness 
to be known as the "priest " who had been spoken of, but to avoid 
controversy, for which I have no time ; but as your correspondent 
seems to insinuate that I have been endeavoring to keep in the 
background, for purposes of my own, I subscribe my name to this 
simple statement of facts. G. H. Doane. 

The Cathedral, Newark, May 4, 1868. 

Now, let the reader note the following points in this 
letter : 

1. Mr. Doane pleads "conscience" for his ungodly 
transaction. " My conscience not only acquits me of 
all blame, but would condemn me if I had acted other- 
wise." We see by this what sort of a "conscience" 
Komanism gives to its votaries, and even to its priests. 

2. Mark, imder " What I Did," that the only com- 
plaint is, that Miss Smith was neglecting her " reHgious 
duties," that is, the confessional, <fec. ; that her faith 
was being tampered with. The worst thing alleged 
was, that she was " out late at nights," which was ut- 
terly untrue, as was proved on the trial, except as she 
was sometimes out a little after nine o'clock, at her 
class or prayer meetings. 

3. Note in the account of the visit to Mrs. Carrol- 
ton's, the Catholic aunt, how the plot, and the lock- 
ing-up,are all concealed. 

4. Notice that Mary Ann was " headstrong and un- 
truthful ;" — ^headstrong in that she refused to renounce 
her Protestantism ; and yet denying " having had any- 
thing to do with any religious body but her own !" Is 
not that a consistent story ! 

5. He admits that he " advised" all that was done ; 
and he should have said instigated it all ; for it can be 
proved that her father said more than once during the 



14 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANK SMITH 

trial that it was not his doings — that it was all done 
by the priest, though the father's name was used in 
the proceedings. 

6. Note especially the three departments of the 
nunnery, the last of which is for " the correction of dis- 
obedient and incorrigible children," such as he declares 
Mary Ann to be, because she would not renounce her 
religion at the priest's bidding. 

7. He says the " poor girls who have abandoned th^ 
path of virtue," (that is. Catholic prostitutes taken 
from the streets of New York, all of whom are in good 
and regular standing in " the church,") are "kept en- 
tirely distinct " from the others ; but Miss Smith tes- 
tified, in court, that she labored, and eat, and slept, 
with these abandoned women, and Doane did not even 
attempt to contradict her. 

8. Observe that Mr. Doane affirms that Mary Ann 
was "well pleased with the Sisters,'* and that "all 
stories of unkind or harsh treatment are absolutely 
false." Both these assertions Miss Smith contradicts 
under oath. She is not and never has been "well 
pleased" with anything about the nunnery; instead of 
kind treatment, she swears that she has to work twelve 
hours a day, and is fed largely or m.ainly upon mush 
and stale bread and molasses. If this is not " harsh 
treatment" for a girl of fifteen, we should like to know 
what would be. 

9. Finally, notice that in all this letter, in justifica- 
tion of the abduction, while every available plea is 
employed, there is not an intimation that Miss Smith is 
dissolute, or that she was placed in confinement to re- 
form her from a vicious course of life. No such thing 



BT THE KOMAN CATHOLICS. 15 

was at that time thought of by priest or father. The 
whole tenor of the letter shows that she was kidnapped 
and conjfined, to take her away from Protestant friends 
and influences, and to compel her to become a Catho- 
lic by confinement and inquisitorial " correction.'* 



CHAPTEE IV. 

Commencement of Proceedings for the release of tlie 
Prisoner, 

The Methodist Preachers' Meeting of Newark, hav- 
ing learned where Mary Ann was, and how she came 
there, appointed a committee to sue out a writ of habeas 
corpus, and bring her before a Judge in New York, 
where the nunnery is located. This was done on the 
oath of Eev. J. S. Gilbert, her pastor. 

Petition for the Writ. 

To the Supreme Court of the State of New Torh : 

The petition of Jesse S. Gilbert sliows that Mary Ann Smith is 
now a prisoner, and is imprisoned and restrained of her liberty in 
the Convent of the Good Shepherd, in the city of New York, by 
the Lady Superior, Mother, or other person having the charge of 
said convent. 

That the place where the said Mary Ann Smith is detained and 
imprisoned, is otherwise called the House of the Good Shepherd ; 
that she is not committed or detained by virtue of any process is- 
sued by any Court of the United States, or by any Judge thereof; nor 
is she committed or detained by virtue of the final judgment or de« 
cree of any competent tribunal of civil or criminal jurisdiction, or 
by virtue of any execution issued upon such judgment or decree. 

That the cause or pretence of detention and imprisonment, ac- 
cording to the best of the knowledge and belief of your petitioner 
is, that the said Mary Ann Smith, whose parents belong to the 



16 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

Roman Catholic Church, recently united with the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, and your petitioner knows of no other cause of de- 
tention, and verily believes that there is no other. 

That the said Mary Ann Smith is about sixteen years of age, and 
that your petitioner is a citizen of the State of New Jerj^ey; 
wherefore your petitioner prays that a writ of habeas corpus issue 
directed to the Lady Superior, Reverend Mother, or other person 
having the charge or control of the said Convent of the Good 
Shepherd, in the city of New York, commanding him or her to pro- 
duce the body of the said Mary Ann Smith before this Honorable 
Court, on such day and hour, and at such place as this Honorable 
Court may appoint. 

Dated the 9th day of June, 1868. ' 

Jesse S. Gilbert. 

City and County of New YorTc^ ss, : 

Jesse S. Gilbert, being duly sworn, doth depose and say that the 
facts set forth in the above petition subscribed by him are true. 

Jesse S. Gilbert. 

Sworn to before me this 9th day of June, 1868, 
John Butcher, Notary Fuhlic. 

The Writ of Habeas Corpus. 

The People of the State of New York to the Lady Superior, 
Reverend Mother, or other person having the charge of the Con- 
vent of the Good Shepherd, otherwise called the House of the 
Good Shepherd, in the City of New York, Greeting : We com- 
mand you that you have the body of Mary Ann Smith, by you im- 
prisoned and detained, as it is said, together with the time and 
cause of such imprisonment and detention, by whatsoever name 
she shall be called or charged before the Su- 
preme Court, at a Special Term thereof, to be 
r -, held in and for the City and County of New 

LI" S.J York, at the City Hall, in said city, on the fif- 

teenth day of June, 1868, at eleven o'clock in the 
forenoon, to do and receive what shall then and 
there be considered concerning her, and have you then there this 
Avrit. 

AVitness, Hon. D. P. Ingraham, one of the Justices of said Court, 
the 10th day of June, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight. 
Lord & Skidmore, Plaintiff's Attorneys, 55 Liberty street, N. Y. 
By the Court, Chas. E. Loew, Clerk. 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 17 

(Endorsed.) 

This writ is hereby allowed. 

K Y., 10th June, 1868, 

D. P. Ingeaham, Justice. 

Service of the Writ. 

(Endorsed.) 
State of !N"ew Yoek, 

City and County of New York, ss. : 

Peter Coyle, of said city, being duly sworn, says : That on the 
13th day of June, 1868, he served an original writ of habeas corpus^ 
of which the within is a copy, by delivering the said original writ 
to, and leaving the same with the Lady Superior of the House (or 
Convent) of the Good Shepherd, at the said house or convent, in the 
city of ^Qw York ; the person so served being the person at that 
time in charge of said house or convent ; and that this deponent is 
an elector in the said city and county of New York. 

Petee Coyle. 

Sworn to before me, this 15th day of June, 1868, 
Lemuel Skidmobk, Notary Public^ 
New York City and County. 



Answer of Defendants to the Writ. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 

In the matter of the proceeding by liabeas corpus in behalf of 

Maey Ann Smith. 

In obedience to the writ of habeas corpus allowed by this honor- 
able Court in the above proceeding, comes Sister Mary Francis, 
and for return to said writ respectfully shows, that the said Mary 
Ann Smith, in said writ mentioned, is in the custody of the said 
Sister ; that the said Mary Ann Smith is an infant, under the age 
of twenty-one years, to wit, of the age of between fifteen and six- 
teen years ; that on or about the day of March, 1868, the said 

Mary Ann was brought by James Smith, her father, and natural 
guardian to the House of the Good Shepherd, so called, and by him 
was then and there placed in the custody of the Lady Superior. 
The said Mary Ann had previously thereto, of her own propensity, 
and without the consent of her said father, abandoned her homo 
with her said father and the society of her relatives and family, 
and had commenced a wicked and degraded course of life, keeping 
bad company, resorting to disreputable places, and being on the 



18 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH. 

streets in the city of Newark at late and unreasonable hours of the 
night; that the said Mary Ann was heedless of the entreaties of 
her said father and of the solicitations of her relatives and friends 
to return to her home, but that she continued lier life of wicked- 
ness, and apprehensive of evil befalling his said child and to avert 
her ruin and shame, he brought her to this House, where by his 
authority she is now detained for instruction and moral guidance ; 
that from the actions, language, and disposition of the said Mary 
Ann, she is, in the opinion of said Sister Mary Francis, a proper 
subject for restraint; that as the said Sister Mary Francis is in- 
formed and verily believes, the foregoing is the true cause of the 
detention of the said Mary Ann, and not, as in the petition for 
said writ alleged, that said child recently united herself with the 
Methodist Episcopal church ; that the said House of the Good 
Shepherd is not a religious, sectarian or proselytising institution, 
but is an eleemosynary institution, incorporated under the laws of 
this State, having for its object the custody of unprotected, way- 
ward, or viciously disposed females, the reclamation of the disso- 
lute, and moral training of youth ; that one of the especial guar- 
dianship of young girls of previous rectitude who evince an incli- 
nation to waywardness, that such are especially protected, 
instructed, trained to habits of industry, and in them the admira- 
tion of charity and love of purity is inculcated ; that among tht? 
inmates of the House there are those of all denominations; Catho- 
lics and Protestants are alike received and nurtured, and no in-, 
terference with their religious behef is permitted. 

Sister Mari Francis. 

City and County of New Yor\ ss : 

Sister Mary Francis, being duly sworn, says, that the foregoing 
return by her submitted is true of her own knowledge, except as 
to matters therein stated on information and belief, and as to those 
matters she believes it to be true. 

Sister Mary Francis. 
Sworn to before me, this 19th day of June, 1868, 
W. T. MoGraff, Notary Public. 

The foregoing return having been duly read and filed, the Court 
suggested that notice of the proceeding should be given to the 
father of the said Mary Ann Smith, which notice was given, and 
the father appeared in Court by counsel and adopted the notice as 
his own, and thereupon the relator and the respondent proceeded 
to take proof of the facts alleged in the said writ and in the return 
thereto, pursuant to the order of the Court, as follows : 

This ** answer/' prepared by the Catholic lawyer, 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 19 

adopted by the father as true, and sworn to by " Sister 
Mary Francis," (an assumed name, no doubt, such as 
all nuns wear) is worthy of special notice. 

1. It alleges that she had '* abandoned her home 
with her said father," without his consent — a fact which 
neither her father nor any one else intimates was true, 
in all the investigation. She was living out as a ser- 
vant in one of the best families in Newark, contented 
and happy, with the full knowledge and consent 
of her father, as she had been living out in various 
places for four or five years. Why, then, this false- 
hood deliberately written and sworn to ? 

2. "Sister Mary Francis" is informed and believes 
that Mary Ann is not imprisoned for uniting with the 
M. E. Church. Of course they must deny this. 

3. She swears that " the House of the Good Shep- 
herd is not a religious, sectarian, or proselytizing in- 
stitution, but an institution incorporated under the 
laws of this State, having for its object the custody of 
unprotected, wayward and viciously disposed females, 
etc." And yet persons are sent there from beyond the 
State, on the order of Catholic priests, and no Protest- 
ant, not even the Governor of the State, could get into 
it without a " permit" from one of these " sectarian" 
priests. It is to all intents and purposes a Roman 
Catholic nunnery, used to coerce converted Catholics 
back to Eomanism ; the facts being that a fraud has 
been committed on the Legislature and the Protestant 
tax-payers of the State, and a charter obtained for a 
professedly public charitable institution, and $25,000 
a year appropriated for its support from the State 
treasury, when it is a Roman Catholic nunnery. The 



20 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

inmates pay all the expenses by their labor, and 
the $25,000 a year goes to help build Eoman Cath- 
olic cathedrals, or for other sectarian purposes. Of 
all this the public will have abundant proof in due 
time. 

4. It is affirmed that " Catholics and Protestants are 
ahke received and nurtured." Yes. Mary Ann Smith 
was a Protestant, and we know how she has been " re- 
ceived and nurtured." And she also testifies that 
other '* Protestants" are confined there for the same 
purpose that she is, namely, to compel them to go back 
to Romanism. It is simply a branch of the Inquisi- 
tion in this country, to search out " heretics," and by 
temporal pains and penalties, to compel them to recant 
and go back to Popery. Ought not the public to know 
who these " Protestants " are, and what they say about 
their imprisonment ? And will the people of New York 
continue to support that Catholic prison, or even allow 
of any place where persons are confined within the 
State, but to which none but Roman Catholics can 
have access ? If they will, our religious liberties are 
already gone, and the Inquisition is established in the 
country, and that, too, at the expense of the State. 

5. It is affirmed that " no interference with their 
religious belief is permitted." "Well, so they say of all 
their nunneries and schools ; and yet seven-tenths of 
all who go even to their schools become Cathohcs. 
But in this case the statement is absolutely false. 
The writer heard Mary Ann, who is a Protestant, say, 
the day she was remanded last to her dungeon, that 
she was com^pelled to worship in the Catholic way, but 
that in her heart she worshiped God in her own way. 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 21 

This she said openly before "Sister Mary Francis" 
and other nuns, and no one contradicted her. We 
beheve, therefore, that in this particular, also, the An- 
swer is altogether untrue. Let us now pass to the 
court-room and the testimony. 



CHAPTEE V. 

Father Doane, the Mother Superior and Mary Ann in 

Court. 

The writ of habeas corpus was issued June 10th, and 
directed to the " Eeverend Mother" of the Convent of 
the Good Shepherd. (?) It was returnable, June 15th, 
at 10 A. M., before Judge Ingraham, of the Supreme 
Court, in Chambers. At the appointed time all par- 
ties appeared in Court, but the investigation was ad- 
journed to the 17th, at the same hour. Mary Ann was 
then produced in court under the care of several 
'* Sisters" in their nun's attire, and "Father Doane," 
and other Catholics were in attendance. The case 
was opened by taking the testimony of Miss Smith, the 
imprisoned girl, which was as follows : 



SUPREME COURT. 

The People of the State of INTew Yoek, on relation of Jesse S. 
Gilbert, against The Lady Superior, or Reverend Mother, hav- 
ing charge of the Convent of the Good Shepherd in the City 
of i^ew York. 

Mary Ann Smitli. 

City and County of New YorJc^ ss: 
Mary Ann Smith, being duly sworn, deposes and says : I am 



22 ABDUCTION OF MART ANN SMITH 

in my sixteenth year. I will be sixteen some time next winter. I 
have been in the convent or house of the Good Shepherd a week 
before April last. I was brought there by my father and my aunt. 
I went out to purchase some muslin, and I intended on the way to 
stop and see one of my aunts, who lives in Plain Street. I stopped 
there, and then went on to see my other aunt, who is present. I 
was living out at service with Mrs. Fitzgerald at the time I went 
out to purchase the muslin. I stopped on the way at my aunt's 
house, who lives in Block street, and there I found my aunt and 
my cousin. I stopped merely for a visit. Presently, while I was 
there, the priest came in and asked me to go to the house of the 
Good Shepherd. I would not consent to go. He asked me if I 
went to the Protestant church, and th«n asked me to come to the 
House of the Good Shepherd. I told him I went to the Protes- 
tant church. In the latter part of last winter I joined the Metho- 
dist church in Newark on probation. I had been working in the 
shop and living out at a place for about five years since my mother 
died. I worked at my uncle's tailor-shop, and then went to a 
place at Red Bank, and lived there three months ; then I came 
from that place to Mr. Brittins, and lived there about four months, 
and from that to Mrs. Fitzgeralds, and lived there not quite a 
month. I was converted, and joined the church while I was at 
Mr. Brittins. My family, I believe, heard about it before I left 
Mr. Brittins, and afterwards they mentioned it to me several 
times — my family I mean. They asked me, '' "Where was I going, 
and did I want to sell myself to the devil to go to a Protestant 
church ?" They asked me to come to see them one Sunday even- 
ing. I went, and the mother of the young lady present, Mrs. 
Gregory, went with me ; they said nothing at all about my joining 
the church while she was with me. The Sunday evening before I 
came away to the House of the Good Shepherd, my aunt said I 
was a *' noble lady." I was then just coming from Sunday-school. 
At that time I was at my aunt's house in Newark, when I was 
taken to the convent of the Good Shepherd, the priest, I believe, 
sent for my father, and* then my father came that night, and my 
father and my aunt took me to the House of the Good Shepherd. 
They asked me to come and see the place, and then when they 
got me there they would not let me go away. I did not want to 
go to the convent, but went merely to oblige them, to see the place ; 
they said if I did not like it, they would let me come back. I am 
now detained at said House against my will. They wont — that is, 
the sisters — wont let me out, and they won't tell me how long I 
am to stay. I have associated with one or two of the girls there, 
who were put in for the same reason as myself, for changing their 
faith. Most of the girls there are abandoned girls, and also women 
of all ages ; they have mostly as far as I know been put in for 
crime and dissipation, and some of them came from Blackwell's 
Island ; they are the commonest kind of women. All these girls 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 23 

and women of whom I speak, eat and drink at the same refectory 
and sleep in the same dormitory. They are round about me all 
the time, though I strive to avoid them. Sometimes they speak 
to me, and then I merely answer them ; but there is every facility 
of association among all the inmates of the House, confined for 
whatever cause, except that they are divided into three classes : 
one for the little children, the other class is a religious Order, and 
the third consists of girls and women committed to the care of the 
institution by the magistrates or by their friends ; most of those 
in this third class are committed by the magistrates, and the resfc 
are sent by lines from their priest. I don't like the association of 
the girls in my class, and consider them very unfit companions. 
Many of them use very bad language when the Sisters are absent. 
When I first went to the House I could not eat the provisions, and 
I still find them very hard to eat, they are so poor. They give us 
a mug of cofiee in the morning and two pieces of very poor bread ; 
then for dinner, sometimes milk and oftener mush and molasses, 
or mush and milk ; for tea, we have bread and tea with poor and 
often rancid butter and sometimes cold meat. My father has been 
to see me only once since I was there. 

Before I joined the Methodist church, my friends had accused 
me of being wild. About last July my aunt said I took ten dol- 
lars out of her band-box, and my uncle would not pay my wages 
in consequence. I never took the money, and the charge was en- 
tirely false. I had been a giddy girl, but since I joined the church 
I lived consistently, and for a good while before I tried to do 
right. 

her 

Maey Ann M Smith. 

mark. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me, this iTth day of June, 
1^68. D. P. Ingeaham, Justice. 

This is all the testimony that was taken the first day, 
when the case was adjourned over to the 19th. Upon 
this testimony let the reader notice — 

1. That the crime for which she was abducted was, 
"selling herself to the Devil," by going to a Protes- 
tant church. 

2. Notice that the priest sent for her father to incite 
him to do what he did. 

3. Notice how they deceived and lied to her to get 
her into the place of confinement. 



24 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

4. The fare which she had, in an institution to which 
the State gives twenty-five thousand dollars a year, 
and Doane himself says the inmates — three hundred 
in number — earn two thousand dollars a month, — all it 
costs to sustain it. 

5. Observe that parties are sent there on the order 
of Romish priests, and that it is to all intents and pur- 
poses a nunnery, no one being allowed to enter it 
without a permit from a priest ^ and yet the " Mother 
Superior " swears, in the return to the writ, that it is 
" not a religious institution !" Will the Protestants of 
the State of New York continue to support this Eoman 
Catholic nunnery and prison for Protestants ? 

On the 19th the Court convened, and the case was 
again called. 

John S. Brlttin§. 

JoHK S. Beittins, being duly sworn, says: I reside at 119 Jeffer- 
son street, Newark, N". J. My business is painting and teaching 
music. I am acquainted with Mary Ann Smith named in the writ 
of habeas corpus. She was in my employ. She came to my house 
the first of November, 1867, and was there until the third of 
March following. Have seen her since occasionally up t3 the time 
she was taken away. She boarded with my family and roomed, 
with my daughter and a young lady who was boarding with me. 
I never saw a more modest, chaste, and circumspect young girl 
than she was in her deportment and conversation. She was at my 
house the most of the time. She spent most of her evenings at 
home sewing for herself. I always found her to be truthful. I 
paid her seven dollars a month ; paid her wages to herself, and she 
requested us to keep them until she had enough to buy her some 
clothes. Her father knew she was with us, but never made any 
claim for her wages. 

Gross-examined by T. O'Connor, attorney for Respondent: I 
have known Mary Ann since first of November, 1867. I don't 
know her family at all. Have had no intercourse with her family. 
Don't know what their circumstances are. I am a married man — 
have a wife and ^yq children. Mary Ann was in the house as an 
assistant to my wife, self, son, and daughter, and three small chil- 
dren. Kept no other help than Mary Ann. Am a teacher and 



BY THE ROMAIv" CATHOLICS. 25 

am engaged out during the day. I don't lock up my house ; I leave 
one door open. I retire between eleven and twelve o'clock ; any- 
body can go out at night without my knowledge. I am up and 
down all night. Have been diseased several years — affection of 
the kidneys. Mary Ann roomed with my daughter, seventeen 
years of age, and a lady about twenty-eight. I arise in the morn- 
ing by ^vQ or six o'clock. Have no other means of knowing that 
the girls are in the house all night than their presence in the 
morning. Mary Ann is in the habit of assisting me. * There have 
been days when I was away from home a day or so, and some- 
times I stay away over night. I staid away not over two nights 
while she was there. I spend my days partly at home; when I 
am at home, I am in all parts of the house. My evenings are gen- 
erally occupied teaching. The girls are not always in my imme- 
diate presence. Their evenings are spent at church and at home. 
I don't go to church with them ; they leave the house to go to 
church ; they go to the Methodist church, and come home when 
the meeting is out. Mary Ann is an industrious girl, she is expert 
at sewing, cuts and makes her own dresses. I am no judge of what 
she can earn. I would be willing to give her her board and a 
couple of dollars per week for her sewing. 

J. S. Beittins. 

Sworn to before me, this 19th day of June, 4868, 
D. P. Ingeaham, Justice, 



Such is the testimony of the man in whose family 
Miss Smith lived at the time of the conversion. " I 
never saw a more modest, chaste, and circumspect 
young girl than she was in her deportment and conver- 
sation." Mark, also, the wages, seven dollars a month 
for a girl of fifteen. And still further, that the father 
of Mary Ann made no complaint, so long as she was a 
Eomanist, and confessed to "Father Doane" every 
month, as she did regularly up to the time of her con- 
version. 

Mr. Brittins and his wife are members in good 
standing in the Frankhn Street M. E. Church, and 
without a stain or a suspicion upon their character ; 
and yet see how the Catholic lawyer tried, in the cross- 







26 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

examination, to fix a suspicion upon tJiem in some way, 
as if they kept a disorderly house ! 

For the clearer apprehension of the case, we insert 
the testimony of Mrs. Brittins next, though not taken 
till the 25th : 

Catlierine L*. Brittin§. 

Oatheeine L. Beittins, a witness produced and sworn on behalf 
of plaintiff, deposes as follows : I reside at Newark. Am married, 
and have kept house ten years in ISfewark. I know Mary Ann 
Smith now present. She lived with me four months from the first 
day of last November till the fourth of last March. She lived in 
my house as a servant ; her character during that time was good. 
I never detected her in lying and stealing, or in any other bad 
conduct. I never knew her to keep bad company or late hours. 
I knew of her joining the Methodist church at Newark ; it was in 
January or February. I never heard any bad reports of Mary Ann. 
Her behaviour in my house was particularly modest. There were 
during the time of her stay there, two young men living in my 
house, my son and a boarder, also another boarder who stayed 
part of the time. I never observed any improper conduct on the 
part of Mary Ann towards these young men or any of them. 

I never suspected any such conduct. The reason I parted with 
Mary Ann was, that my boarders left and I had no further work 
for her. That was the only reason. As far as I know her charac- 
ter was good. I never heard any bad report of her. I never had 
reason to suspect her chastity. I am a member of the Methodist 
church Mary joined. 

Gross-examined : I have kept boarders more or less ever since I 
kept house. I gave Mary Ann seven dollars per month. There 
were two young men boarders and my son when Mary Ann lived 
with me. Wm. Gilbert used to visit my house when Mary Ann 
was there. I saw him talk to her once. I could not say as to 
whether any other young men called. Mary Ann might have been 
out once or twice at eleven o'clock. I could not say. I went to 
bed from ten to eleven. I have no reason to think she went out 
after she went up stairs to go to bed. Mary Ann was sick for a 
day or two while she was iri my house. One time she had a faint- 
•ing fit and was unwell all the next day. I know she took medical 
specifics, wl]ile she was in my house, that she got from the doctor. 
I don't know whether the medicines were preventives of pregnancy 
or not. Mary Ann told me they were for a pain in the side. I 
never examined the bottles or the labels on the medicines. I kept 
no other help while Mary Ann was there. Mary Ann slept in the 
room with my daughter. She is seventeen years old. I saw Mary 



BY THE EOMAN CATHOLICS. 27 

Ann only once since she left me ; it was about a week after she 
came to my house after her clothes. I know nothing of her of my 
own knowledge since she left me. I never made any inquiries as 
to her character. My husband hired her from an Intelligence 
Office in JTewark. She was converted to Methodism while she was 
in my house. 

Oatheeine L. Beittins. 
Sworn to before me, this 25th day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Inge A HAM, Justice. 

Sucli is the testimony of the two reputable members 
of the M. E. Church, in whose family she lived for four 
months and was living at the time of her conversion, 
as to her deportment while with them, and her gen- 
eral character. She was sick while there, and like 
other poor girls, instead of sending for a doctor, went 
to one herself, got some medicine, brought it home 
and took it. That is all that part of the case ; and yet 
the reader can see the object of drawing out that part 
in the examination. 

The next witness called was "Father Doane," a 
plethoric young Catholic priest, who had been the 
"Father Confessor'' of Miss Smith up to the time of 
her conversion. 

Rev. Oeorge M. Boane. 

Geoeoe H. Doane, called as a witness for the Respondent, and 
examined this 19th day of June, 1868, and is to he sworn before 
the Court hereafter, says : I reside in N"ewark, N. J. Am pastor 
of the Catholic Cathedral in that city; have been there nearly 
eleven years. I am acquainted with James Smith. I know Mary 
Ann Smith, the person named in the writ of habeas corpus. I 
have known her some time. She was admonished by me some 
time ago. Mary Ann Smith is a disobedient, stubborn, and an un- 
instructed, very ignorant person. She is devoid of natural affection. 
I saw her in Newark the evening before she came to the House of 
the Good Shepherd, which was about the 24th of March. She was 
sullen and would not listen to anything. She is a person who does 
not seem capable of reasoning. I think she is carried away by her 



28 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

inclinations. The more I see of the girl, she seems to he of the 
nature of India-rubber, unimpressionable. 

Cross-examined by Mr. Lord : Please look at this communication 
marked, '' G. W. D. and T. O'C." I wrote this article, and fur- 
nished it to the Neicarh Daily Advertiser for publication. The 
facts stated in it are true, with the exception with regard to their 
attempting to see her, and her refusing, which I then believed to 
be true. 

Mary Ann was taken to the Convent from her aunt's, Mrs. Oar- 
rolton's. She was told by Wm. McDonald that her cousin's child 
was there sick. I was notified that Mary Ann was there and went 
to see her. I left her at Mrs. Carrol ton's^ I advised them to keep 
her there until her father should see her, to save her from the 
danger she was exposed to of her losing her faith and morals. I 
had heard that she had joined the Methodist church in Newark, or 
was thinking of doing it ; that is what I mean when I say I think 
she was in danger of losing her faith. Mary Ann denied to me 
that she had received communion in the Methodist church. 

G. H. DOANE. 

Sworn to before me, this 2 2d day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingraham, Justice. 

This testimony is worthy of special notice. 

1. The document shown to Doane, by Mr. Lord, 
was the article published by the former in the Newark 
Daily Advertiser, already inserted in this history on 
pages 11 and 12. It thus becomespart of the testimony 
of Mr. Doane, but need not be reprinted here. 

2. Do not fail to observe that from first to last, here 
and in the article referred to, there is not an intima- 
tion of any misconduct on the part of this poor mother- 
less girl, except that she had left the Catholics, and 
had become a Protestant. It was not that she was 
already dissolute, but was in danger of " losing her 
faith and morals," which, when, interpreted by Doane, 
meant that she was in danger of joining the M. E. 
Church ! 

3. She was very ** disobedient," " stubborn," and 
*' sullen," and "would not listen to anything;" all of 



BY THE ROMAIC CATHOLIC?S. 29 

which means, she was firm in the faith of Christ, and 
would not renounce her Saviour, and go back to Popery, 
at the bidding of a petty little upstart of a Catholic 
priest. All such "stubbornness" and "disobedience," 
is holiiiess and faithfulness to Christ in the sight of God 
— precisely what brought Huss and Jerome and Eidley 
and Cranmer and Latimer and John Rogers, to the 
stake or to the flames. They, too, were all " dis- 
obedient," and " stubborn," and so their Catholic 
murderers all testified. O for more of this spirit of 
the old martyrs among the Protestants of our own 
times and land ! 

4. See how this priest seems to delight in blacken- 
ing the character of this friendless "child" — as he 
called her — he who ought to have been to her as a 
father and protector, struggles to say all he possibly 
can against her, both here and elsewhere. And yet, 
how little he can allege, which every true Christian will 
not commend. She is " an uninstructed, very ignorant 
person." Indeed 1 And whose fault is that? You, 
" Father Doane," have been her pastor eleven years, 
that is, for six years before her mother died. I pre- 
sume you knew her mother. She has confessed to 
you for years, and from six to fifteen you have known 
that she was growing up in a city of free schools with- 
out knowing her letters. You have taken her money 
and that of her father, for your church purposes, but 
have let her grow up in this free land without learning 
to read ; and now, you turn around and reproach her 
for her ignorance ! Shame on you, for thus neglecting 
the lambs of your flock, even the orphans, and then 
abusing thera for your own heartless negligence. Thus 



30 ABDFCTION OF MAEY ANN SMITH 

Eomanism cares for the education of her children. 
No matter for reading and writing ; if they only go to 
confession, hate Protestants, and pay the priest. 

5. Note that Doane admits that he " advised them 
to keep her there," etc., till her father could see her. 
For as yet her father had no anxiety about her. It 
was the spriest who was anxious, and had already 
planned her abduction, and only desired the sanction 
of her father. And it can be proved that the father 
said, during the trial, " this is not my doings. It is 
the priest that told me to do it." 

6. Observe, that Doane states what Mary Ann also 
affirms, but which she forgot to state in her testimony, 
that she was decoyed to the house of her aunt by the 
fact that, " she was told by Wm. McDonald that her 
cousin's child was sick." This was the trick to get 
her to her aunt's house. When there, Doane was sent 
for, and did his best to make her recant ; but as she 
remained " disobedient and stubborn," he advised that 
she be kept there. She was accordingly locked up ; 
her father was sent for to get his consent, and the use 
of his name for the dark and unholy deed, and the 
next day, by the use of deception and lies, she was se- 
duced into the inquisitorial dungeon in New York, 
where she remained for months until brought out on 
the writ of habeas corpus, 

•So much for the testimony of " Father Doane,'* at 
the close of which the case was adjourned over to the 
24th of June. 

Osce M. Fitzgerald. 

OsEK M. Fitzgerald, being duly sworn, says : I reside in [tTew- 
ark, N. J., No. 154 Mulberry street. I am married, and my bus- 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 31 

band is living. I know Mary Ann Smith named in tlie writ. She 
resided with me ; she came with me about the third day of March, 
1868. She remained with me until the 24th of March, the day she 
was taken away. She was with me as a cook ; she roomed with 
my chambermaid. She was home evenings whilst she was with 
me, except one evening a week, when she was at church. When 
she came she asked me for one evening a week to attend church. 
I agreed to give her six dollars per month, and had one other hired 
girl, and one who came in occasionally. She was obedient and 
agreeable whilst with me ; she behaved herself with great pro- 
priety and consistency — more than usually so. She appeared to 
be perfectly virtuous, and her associations were good so far as I 
knew. Her wages were paid to her up to the time when she left ; 
there was a small balance due her which was paid to her mother 
after she left. 

Cross-examined: I first became acquainted with her when she 
came to live with me. She was recommended to me by a Mrs. 
Gregory. Mrs. Gregory is a housekeeper ; she was my cook ; she 
was engaged more or less all the day. I kept a chambermaid, 
Margaret Lannon, over thirty years of age. I close my house at 
ten o'clock at night. My servant girls are required to be in at 
that hour. My chambermaid has been out two or three times all 
night while she lived with me. Mary Ann kept no company while 
she was with me. She went to church one evening in the week ; 
she went alone I presume. I don't know that she went to church. 
She brought no company to the house, except one evening a young 
gentleman came in the house with her. I don't know what com- 
pany she kept when she was not in the house. I did not know 
what her character was previously to her coming to my house. I 
did not know her before. I did not know her family till her father 
came to my house for her. Her work was done about eight o'clock 
in the evening generally. I have two nephews living with me be- 
sides my own family, two sons and a daughter. I could not say 
what time the girls go to bed. I generally retire at from nine to 
ten o'clock. The girls are required to be in their rooms at ten. 
If they are out twice after that hour we dismiss them. The young 
gentlemen are home sometimes all the evening, and sometimes not 
till quite late. I am not in the habit of seeing my girls to bed ; I 
don't know that they are in their rooms ; my husband generally 
locks up. The girls can be out without my knowing it, but could 
not get in again unknown. I was not always in my kitchen, and 
do not treat the girls as of my family. I had no thought of this 
affair or I should have watched her to ascertain her character. 
Her father took her away from me. 

Re-examined by Mr. Lord : Whilst Mary Ann Smith was with 
me, I believed, and I now believe, that she is a girl of good moral 
character. When I say, I do not know her previous character, I 



32 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

mean of my own knowledge ; the report whicli Mrs. Gregory, her 
former acquaintance, gave me of her was good. 

I do know that the girls go to their rooms, and I believe that it 
is impossible for them to leave their rooms after they return to 
them without my knowledge. I do not mean that her father took 
her from my house, but that she was taken away before her time 
was up. 

Re-cross-examined : On Thursday, about the 24th of March, Mary 
Ann asked me leave to go to the store to change a dress, and said 
she would be gone about an hour, and has never come back. I 
think she was influenced by Margaret Lannon, my chambermaid ; 
she, Margaret Lannon, has proved herself a base girl, and, as I am 
informed, she has been to the Island, and has had an illegitimate 
child. I thought she was pregnant while she was with me, and 
told her about it, but she told me that she was to get medicine 
from a doctor that would make her all right. I let her go from 
my house because I thought she was in the familyway, and I did 
not want her in my employ. I did not send her away, but let her 
go. Mary Ann roomed and slept with her while she was with me. 
They were considerably together ; they did not go out together, as 
it is not our rule for both to be out at once. Margaret Lannon 
lived with me in my house for over a year. She said she was not 
married, but that she was engaged to a man who used to visit her 
at my house. Margaret Lannon appeared to be a very nice girl 
previous to this affair, and during all the time she was with me I 
thought, until this occurrence, that she was of good character. I 
don't know that I am a judge of good character. 

OSEE M. FlTZGEEALD. 

Sworn to before me, this 24th June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingraham, Justice. 



Jolm I>* Fitzgerald, 

John D. Fitzgeeald, being duly sworn, says : I am the husband 
of this last witness, Osee M. Fitzgerald. I never saw anything in 
the conduct or conversation of Mary Ann Smith, whilst she was 
with us, to cause me to doubt that she was a virtuous girl, and I 
believed then, and believe now, that she was a girl of unblamable 
and spotless moral character. 

Cross-examined : I did not talk much with Mary Ann Smith nor 
with any of my servant girls. I meet them in the house only. I 
never saw anything in the conduct or character of Margaret Lan- 
non, my chamber-maid, while she was with me, to cause me to 
doubt that she was a virtuous girl, up to the time of her pregnancy. 
I noticed at length that she was in the family-way, as I thought, 
and I have been informed that said Margaret has had an illegiti- 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 83 

mate child since she left my house. I know nothing of the char- 
acter of Mary Ann Smith other than what I saw of her in my 
house. 

John D. Fitzgerald. 
Sworn to before me, this 24th of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingeaham, Justice, 

Such is the testimony of Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald, 
with whom Mary Ann was living at the time of her 
abduction. Despite all the efforts of counsel to show, 
by cross-examination, that Miss Smith was out nights, 
etc., the worst shown is that she went one evening a 
week to her religious meetings ; and the unequivocal 
testimony of this most estimable and honored Chris- 
tian family is, that while with them " she behaved her- 
self with great propriety and consistency — more than 
usually so ;" that is, more than is usual for girls of her 
age. 

Mr. Fitzgerald says, " I believed then, and I believe 
now, that she was a girl of unblamable and spotless 
moral character." Let not those strong statements of 
those with whom she lived be lost sight of in reading 
the testimony hereafter produced to sink the poor girl 
to infamy. 

Mary €. €rregory, 

Maet 0. Gregory, being duly sworn, says : I reside at Ko. 15 
Monroe street, Newark, N. J., at home with my parents. I be- 
came acquainted with Mary Ann Smith shortly after she joined the 
South Market Street M. E. Church, about the 26th of January, 
1868. I was and am still a member of that church. I associated 
with Mary Ann ; after that I saw her occasionally during the week, 
and on the Sabbath she would call at our house on her way to 
church, and we went together. She went every Sabbath as a gen- 
eral thing. She was an intimate friend of mine, and I certainly 
should not have associated with her if her character had not been 
good. 

I believed then, and I believe now, that she was a girl of good 
moral character. 



Si ABDUCTI02T OF MARY ANN SMITH 

Cross-examined: I shall be seventeen years old in July. We 
went to church together on Sundays. I never go out evenings 
except to church. Of my own knowledge I don't know how Mary 
Ann spent her evenings. I don't know Margaret Lannon. I 
knew Mary Ann lived in the same house with her. 

Maet 0. Gregoet. 

Sworn to before me, this 24th day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingraham, Jmtice, 

This, it is seen, is from an "intimate friend" of 
Miss Smith — a girl of seventeen, and a member of the 
same church. And yet, intimate as they were, she 
swears, " I believed then, and I believe now, that she 
was a girl of good moral character." 

We shall next hear the testimony of W. S. Van 
Ness, another member of the same church : 

William §mitli Van Nes§. 

Wm. S. Yai^ Ness, a witness produced and duly sworn on he- 
half of the plaintiff says : I am acquainted with Mary Ann Smith, 
now present. I am twenty-three years old; am a carpenter by 
trade ; resided at INTewark about sixteen years : I am a member of 
the South Market Street Methodist Church, the Church Mary Ann 
Smith joined. I got acquainted with her at the said church. I 
used to see her at the Church meetings about three times a week. 
I used to speak to her every night when she was there, almost as 
the members are in the habit of so speaking to each other. I 
never heard any harm of her, and always believed her to be a re- 
spectable girl. Her general reputation, as far as I know, was that 
of a respectable and modest girl. I am not acquainted with Mrs. 
Fitzgerald, her employer. I used frequently to accompany Mary 
Ann home from the meetings. This was customary for the young 
members who were acquainted with each other. When I first 
was acquainted with her she lived at Mr. Brittins, afterwards she 
moved to Mrs. Fitzgerald^s, and these were the only two places 
to which 1 accompanied her. I believe I was the only young man 
who went with her after she joined the Church. I don't know of 
any other, excepting that I have seen her walk with Mr. Gilbert, 
the pastor of the Church, as far as his house. 

G ross-txandnation : 1 knew Mary Ann Smith about four months. 
I met her at church about three evenings in the week. Church 
opened about half-past seven o'clock, closed about nine o'clock. I 
was in the habit of going with her when the church closed. I gen- 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 35 

erally went home. About twice I took a walk before going in the 
house. We talked about the church ; she said her people "wished 
her to go to a convent. She said she did not want to go ; that they 
would not get her to go if she could avoid it. I knew she was a 
convert; talked about Catholics. I don't know what this girl's 
previous character had been more than I have seen. I only knew 
her in the church. I never inquired as to her character. If I 
thought she was a bad girl, I would not have gone with her. 

William S. Van Ness. 
Sworn to before me this 24:th day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Inge AH AM, Justice. 

Here, again, we have the same unequivocal testi- 
mony — never saw or heard any harm of Mary Ann, 
but she had the reputation of being a respectable and 
modest girl. 

We come next to the testimony of her pastor and 
the prosecutor for her irelease, Bev. J. S. Gilbert : 

J^e§§e §. Criifoert. 

Jesse S. Gilbert, a witness produced and sworn on behalf of 
the plaintiff: I reside at Newark. Am pastor of the South Market 
Street Methodist Church, of which Mary Ann Smith is a member. 
I have been pastor about fifteen months. I know Mary Ann Smith 
now present ; have known her since January, about five months. 
I used to see her nearly every evening at church, where we had 
revival meetings nearly every night. I used often to speak to her. 
I never heard anything against her reputation ; and I then be- 
lieved, and still do believe, that she is a virtuous and upright gu*l 
and, considering her opportunities, very intelligent. I am ac- 
quainted with Mr. Van ISTess, previous witness ; he is one of our 
members in good standing. Mary Ann^s reputation among the 
congregation of that church was, and is still, that of a good and 
upright girl. She often asked the prayers of the congregation for 
hei* parents ; never manifested an undutiful spirit to my knowledge. 
I have seen her father; I don't know him personally. I have 
heard that he is an intemperate man. 

Cross-examined : I heard Miss Gregory say that she heard that 
he was intemperate. I don't know what the father's reputation is. 
Kever saw nor knew him till I met him here. I know nothing 
about the family. My congregation consists of one hundred and 
twenty members ; thirty-six probationers ; Mary Ann is in merely 
on probation. The majority of my congregation are young people. 
Mary Ann joined on probation the 26th of Jan. 1868. She professed 



36 ABDUCTIOJS" OF MARY ANN SMITH 

conversion one night in Franklin street cburcli when I preached. I 
might have seen her previously to this. I used to take lessons in 
vocal music at Mr. Britton's, and she attended the hell. I saw her 
once or twice at Mr. Brittin's house, and saw her at revival meet- 
ings almost every night, I knew her while she lived at Mr. Fitz- 
gerald's. She did not attend the meetings so frequently then. I 
never walked alone with her on the street or sought her society. 
She never made confession to me. Once or twice she asked spirit- 
ual advice of me. Once she accosted me on the street, in front of 
my house, as she was going by. Others were present ; she stopped 
a minute, the others passed on, and she asked me if she might pray 
for her father. I had a conversation with her at brother Brittin's 
on the difference between the religions., I don't profess to be a 
theologian in the technical sense. I have been in the ministry 
nearly three years. I graduated from Princeton College. Did not 
study in a Divinity School. I am twenty- one years of age last 
November. I am not married. I never inquired into tlie charac- 
ter of Mary Ann Smith. I don't know of her keeping company 
with young men outside of my church. I don't know what girls 
she associates with. While I knew, her she has been a servant 
girl. 

J. S. Gilbert. 

Sworn to before me, this 24th day of June, 1368, 
D. P. Ingeaham, Justice. 

This testimony needs no comment, except that it 
should be remembered that it was drawn out by ques- 
tioning, and was written down by the attorneys. On 
that account it contains expressions which Mr. Gilbert 
would have modified as to their form. But if is clear, 
and unequivocal to the point, that having known Miss 
Smith for five months, he had never seen or heard any 
thing improper as to her character or conduct. 

Here, then, we have, exclusive of the testimony of 
Doane and Miss Smith, that of seven witnesses, name- 
ly, John S. Brittins, Mrs. C. L. Brittins, Mr. and Mrs. 
Fitzgerald, Miss Gregory, Mr. Van Ness, and Eev. Mr. 
Gilbert, who all testify most explicitly and emphati- 
cally to the good character and deportment of Mary 
Ann, according to the best of their knowledge and be- 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 37 

lief. And even Doane does not really allege anything 
against her moral character. 

EUlen \Y. Atoer. 

Testimony of Ellex W. Aber, a witness produced and sworn in 
the above entitled matter, in behalf of the plaintiff: I reside in 
Newark, N. J. ; Have resided there about forty years. Am mar- 
ried. 

Question, What was the first you knew of the taking of Mary 
Ann Smith from Newark, and the putting her in the convent ? 

The first I knew of it was when I saw it stated in the "papers" 
that she had been so taken. I subsequently saw Mary Ann Smith 
at the convent, about two weeks after she came there. Father 
Doane gave me a permit. Mrs. Fitzgerald went with me. We had 
a long talk there with Mary Ann. They brought her down on one 
side of some iron bars, and we were on the other.* We went into 
the chapel ; were shown where the penitents sat.t I could see no 
separations in the gallery where they sat ; we did not go up into 
the gallery. I have heard somewhat of Mary Ann from time to 
time, and always favorably. I never heard anything against her 
character.! I do not know her father. Father Doane told me her 
father was a bad man ; not fit to have charge of the girl. 

Cross-examined by Mr. T. O'Connor : I never knew Mary Ann 
Smith till I saw her in the Institution, of my own knowledge. I 
know nothing of her family. I was never acquainted with them 
nor with her father. I went out of curiosity to see Mary Ann at 
the convent. Father Doane advertised that any one wishing to 
see the convent could do so. I remained in the convent about an 
hour and a half. 

E. W Abee. 

Sworn to before me this 24th day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingeaham, Justice, 

Here the Prosecution rested for a time, and the 
Respondents entered upon their defence the next day. 

* What an exhibition in this free country, and that, too, in an in- 
stitution supported by the State ! 

f Here is the machinery for sectarian drill and " discipline,'' and yet 
it is not a religious institution ! 

X How strange, if she was the public character which her Catholic 
friends represent her to be. 



38 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Suit continues— Eespondents enter fojpially upon 

their Defence. 

The first witness called was James Smith, a very 
stupid-looking Irish Eoman Catholic, who testified as 
follows : 

James gmith. 

James Smith, called as a witness for the Respondent, being duly 
sworn, deposes and says : 

Direct examination-hj Respondent's counsel. 

My name is James Smith. I reside in Newark, and have resided 
there and in Jersey City twenty-two years. I am a laboring man. 
I have always been in employment while I lived in Newark. I am 
now employed in the brick works; have been employed there 
about nine years. Previous to that I worked for Sister Brothers, 
Passaic Carbon works. I worked for them five years steady. I 
am the father of Mary Ann Smith, named in the writ of habeas 
corpus. Her mother has been dead for years. I have had other 
children besides Mary Ann. Am married again. I have always 
kept house in Newark, and still keep house. I have always seen 
to the children. I have always treated Mary Ann good and kind. 
I have always taken care of Mary Ann. She was sick with the 
small-pox a year ago last July, and I kept her at home while she 
was sick. When Mary Ann's mother died, I sent her to live with 
her aunt, Mrs. Carrolton. The aunt procured her a place, which 
she left and came to me. I have always kept her in a situation 
since her mother died. I sent her to work in a family when she 
left her aunt, and when she was out of place she lived with me. 
She is going on sixteen years of age. She never till the last five 
months maintained herself. Till lately I provided her clothing. I 
left her almost entirely with the aunt after her mother died till I 
got married again. Last March I placed her in the House of the 
Good Shepherd. I put her there because she was misbehaving, 
keeping bad company, and late hours, and disobeying me. She is 
there now by my authority, and kept there by my will. I intend 
to leave her there till she becomes good, or until I find a good 
place for her, where she will be taken care of and not be left to her 
own inclinations. I have taken her from several bad girls ; one 



BY THE ROMAlSr CATHOLICS. 39 

named Sweeney. About five months ago I ordered her into my 
house. I saw her in the streets nights with dissipated young men 
and women, and took her home forcibly and brought her to my 
house. I am of ability to maintain her and willing to do so. She 
never gave me any of her earnings except three dollars, which was 
due her when she was placed in the House of the Good Shepherd, 
for which I bought her shppers and sent her mother to see her. I 
think she had better be in the House of the Good Shepherd till I 
find her a more suitable place. Tis not for the church I put her 
in, 'tis for disobeying me and keeping bad company. It had been 
reported to me that she walked the streets and acted bad in 'New- 
ark^ and that is why I watched her and I found it so, and took her 
off the streets for her safety. When she lived out, she was accus- 
tomed to come to my house at eleven o'clock and sometimes after 
midnight. I always took her in — that is, my wife took her in. 
My wife is very fond of her — too fond she was of her. 

Cross-examined : I work now in the Zinc Works. I earn about 
fourteen shillings a day. I work every day I have my health. 
Last week I only worked two days ; I worked four days the week 
before. I generally earn twenty-three dollars and ten cents every 
two weeks by my labor — sometimes thirty, and sometimes more 
by making overtime. For the last year I have been earning as 
much as stated. I sent Mary Ann to her aunt's about five years 
ago until I should get married again. She staid there about three 
years. She was at school a part Of the time. She can't read and 
write. She acted as one of the family at her aunt's. Can't say 
how long she was at school. Don't know what she did when she 
was at her aunt's. Went there to see her when I had a chance. 
Don't know how often, perhaps every three or four months. I 
did not clothe her during that time. Her aunt clothed her. There 
was no agreement about clothing her with the aunt. The aunt 
was willing to take her and do for her until she got stronger. 
My boy was in Jersey City during that time ; don't remember 
how much I earned. I boarded at ^JsTewark. When my daughter 
left her aunt's, she went to a place with my consent. I went to 
see her at the place and brought her a set of garments. She did 
not stay long at that place, and then I got her another place. She 
stopped only a short time there^' and then was home with me 
again. She stayed home until she got another place, and after- 
wards went to work at her uncle's shop. She got a place in the 
country and stayed there a month, and from there came to me, 
and from me came to this place where she become a Protestant. 
I don't know the families where she lived at all. It was since my 
wife died that I suspected Mary's character — about two years. I 
heard people say that I ought to keep my people in at night from 
bad company. Her uncle, Mr. McDonald, told me she was no bet- 
ter than a common prostitute ; that was while he employed her ; 
that was six or seven months ago. I went out to look for her in 



40 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANIST SMITH 

the street ; I found out she was keeping company with had boys 
and girls. She kept company with one Kate Sweeney, who bore a 
bad name. She was in her company some time. I took her away 
from her company. I have not seen my daughter with her for five 
or six months. I have seen her with several young men. I did 
not know whether they were bad or good, only I didn't like her to 
be with them. I can't think of any of their names ; that is all I 
know against Mary Ann, that she went on the street with Kate 
Sweeney and several young men whose characters I did not think 
to be good. In the latter end of March last, I went and took ad- 
vice of her aunt, Mrs. Carrolton, and Father Doane, and they ad- 
vised me to put her in the House of the Good Shepherd. I did not 
know of my own knowledge that she had joined the church when 
I took that advice. I had heard rurnors of her having joined, and 
had asked her about it, but she denied that she had joined the 
church. I did not threaten her ; I went to see a lawyer at that 
time, but did not see him. I saw another lawyer since and told 
him about the case. I told him my girl was disobedient and I 
wanted to know what to do with her. He wrote a few lines and 
sent them to Father Doane. I don't know what was in the lines. 
1 don't remember saying anything to the lawyer about her being a 
Protestant. I know that Mary had a dispute with Mr. McDonald, 
who gave me the bad reports of her. Mary told me that he ac- 
cused her of stealing money. I didn't pay much regard to it. I 
went to see him and asked him if it was so, and he gave me no de- 
cided answer. I can't say whether it was then or afterwards he 
told me that Mary Ann was no better than a prostitute. 

I live at Newark now. I rent two rooms in said house. There 
are five in my family ; myself and wife and two boys and Mary 
Ann. It was from her aunt, Margaret Carroll's, that I took her 
away to the House of the Good Shepherd. I told her that she 
might not be a month there. If she did not like it I would take 
her out. I don't drink, except a glass of beer occasionally. Have 
not got drunk for some time. My wife does not get drunk. 

bis 

James M Smith. 

mark. 

Sworn to before me, this 25th day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingeaham, Jmtice, 



Any one can see by this testimony that Mr. Smith 
had been well schooled in the part he was to act be- 
fore coming into court. With Mrs. Carrolton, her 
aunt, he swears that Mary Ann was sent to school, 
and yet she cannot write her name or read a word. 



BY THE KOMAN CATHOLICS. 41 

Observe, also, that important as it was for tlie father 
to convict his daughter of proflgacy, if possible, " for 
the good of the church," that is, to justify the abduc- 
tion instigated by Doane, the most the father could 
say was, " All I know against Mary Ann is, that she 
went on the street with Kate Sweeney and several 
young men whose characters I did not think to be 
good." But this was months before the project for her 
abduction. 

2. The latter end of March he heard that she had 
joined the M. E. Church, and then went to a lawyer, 
who wrote to Father Doane, etc. How plain from all 
this that it was not the bad company she kept six 
months before, but the joining of the M. E. Church 
which made the stir, and was the sole cause of the ab- 
duction. 

3. Notice that Smith admits that he told her she 
need not stay in the nunnery unless she wished to, and 
yet she has been there, against her will, now (Septem- 
ber 10th) for over five months. 

4. It is obvious from the whole drift of this testi- 
mony that Mr. Smith had no idea that his daughter 
was dissolute. Hence, when two abandoned wretches 
swore to her bad character, and I asked the father if 
he had supposed her to be such a girl, he told me no, 
he had never suspected such a thing. And even the 
Mother Superior, in the early part of the suit, when 
some one intimated that Mary Ann was a bad girl, 
contradicted the statement, affirming that she could 
tell a bad girl, and that Mary Ann was not a bad girl. 
It was not then known that it would be necessary to 



42 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH | 

make her out a courtesan in order to justify her con- 
tinued imprisonment, ssljs : 

Mrs. Bridget Smitli. 

Mrs. Beidget Smith, being duly sworn, testifies : I am tlie wife 
of James Smith, father of Mary Ann Smith, now present. Mary 
Ann has lived with me off and on as she was out of place. I know 
her to have kept late hours on the streets of Newark. She often 
came to my house at the hour of about eleven o'clock, seeking ad- 
mittance, and I let her in. I know of her keeping bad company. 
I saw her with a young man named Denis Clarey. He was then 
after coming out of jail. He was considered a bad character ; they 
called him a rowdy. He used to come to see Mary Ann when her 
father was out. I know of her keeping company with a girl 
named Kate Sweeny; she bears a bad name. 

Cross-examined : Mary Ann has not been at my house since last 
Fall. I have not seen her with Denis Clarey or Kate Sweeny since 
Christmas last. I know nothing against Mary's virtue. 

her 

Bridget M Smith. 

mark. 

Sworn to before me, this 25th day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingeaham, Justice, 



Mrs. Margaret Carrolton. 

Mrs. Margaret Carrolton, being duly sworn, deposes and says : 
I live in Ko. 112 Lock street, Newark. I am the aunt of Mary 
Ann Smith, sister of her deceased mother. At the death of her 
mother and before that, during the sickness of her mother, I took 
Mary Ann under my charge. She was then over nine years old. 
I placed her with my sister, Mrs. McDonald, in Plane street. She 
remained with her over two years, and part of this time she went 
to school ; when not at school she minded the baby. She was 
supported and provided for by my sister as one of her own family. 
While going to school, she played truant so much that her aunt 
took her from school. At Mary Ann's desire, her aunt sent her to 
work in a shop, and Mary Ann staid there not over two weeks. 
She then went to live with Mrs. Garrett minding children. She 
was then over twelve years of age. She remained there less than 
two months. She came home from there, and I went to see Mrs. 
Garrett, and she told me she discharged Mary Ann for stealing. I 
found a brush and comb and leggins and some other things with 
Mary Ann, and she confessed to me that she had stolen them from 
Mrs. Garrett. I compelled her to return them. After Mrs. Gar- 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 43 

rett, she came again to live with mj sister. The aunt placed her 
in her husband's shop, Mr. McDonald, a tailor, to teach her to run 
a sewing machine. She remained at that a few weeks, and then 
he gave her wages, ^ve dollars a week. She stole from the shop 
silk and other things, and he was obliged to send' her out of the 
house to board, but still kept her working for him. She went to 
board to a place I procured her. I took her to Father Doane, and 
he told me of her lying and stealing, and he advised me to place 
her in the House of the Good Shepherd. This was two years ago. 
She worked two or three months after that for Mr. McDonald. 
The lady she boarded witb, Mary Ann told me, accused her of hav- 
ing stolen money, and I then took Mary Ann under my own charge. 
When she left McDonald, she went to the country to live out ; but 
she came back to her father's house. She then went to live with 
Mrs. Sponheimer to run a machine at what wages sbe could earn. 
Then Mrs. Sponheimer put her to minding children. She remained 
three or four months with Mrs. Sponheimer. Mary Ann was at this 
time over fourteen years of age. I then ascertained that she was 
keeping bad company. I went to Mrs. Sponheimer's to inquire about 
her, and was informed that she could not get along with Mary Ann. 
Mrs. Sponheimer discharged her. Mary Ann is a very stubborn girl, 
and she is dishonest. I have ever striven to take care of her. 
Her father, James Smith, has always come to see Mary Ann, and 
has always provided her with whatever she wanted. Mr. Smith is 
a very sober, industrious man, always seeing to his family. He has 
not drank for six years to my knowledge. Some years ago he 
drank freely, so as to be drunk once or twice a week. He does 
not drink now. He works constantly. Those times I speak of his 
drinking years ago he was never incapacitated for work. 

Cross-examined: It was three years ago that Mrs. Garrett ac- 
cused Mary Ann of dishonesty. It was over a year ago that her 
uncle accused her of dishonesty. Her stepmother has accused her 
since. I don't know how long ago, nor whether within six months. 
I guess it must be longer ago than six months. It was in last fall 
I heard of Mary's keeping bad company. I have not heard of her 
doings since that time. Mary Ann did nothing at my house. She 
boarded there. Within the last twelve months Mary Ann has 
clothed herself. I went with Mary Ann to the House of the Good 
Shepherd. Her father told her that she should come and see the 
place and make arrangements concerning staying. I did not hear 
him say she needn't stay unless she liked. 

her 

Margaret M Oaeeolton. 

mark. 

Sworn to before me, this 25th day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingeaham, Justice, 

In regard to this testimony, the following points are 

worthy of special note : 



44 ABDUCTION OF MAEY ANN SMITH 

1. Whatever there may have been of instability or 
dishonesty in Mary Ann, all that is here alleged was 
months or years before she went to Mr. Brittins, or 
was converted to Christ. Even then, if all was as Mrs. 
Carrolton testifies, how does that justify her arrest 
and imprisonment after she became pious and steady ? 

2. She swears positively that Mary Ann was dis- 
charged by Mrs. Garrett, some four years before, for 
stealing. This Mr. Garrett contradicts. 

3. She swears 'that " Mr. Smith is a very sober, in- 
dustrious man, etc.," which everybody who knows him 
knows is not true. He was not " sober " when Bev. 
Mr. Gilbert and the writer called upon him as nar- 
rated further on, and when he threatened to spill Mr. 
Gilbert's "heart's blood," though he was not very 
drunk. 

4. She heard what the father said to Mary Ann about 
going to see the convent, but did not hear the balance 
of what the father admits that he said at the same 
time. But we leave "Mrs. Carrolton" for the next 
witness. 

€liarles Garrett. 

Chaeles Garrett, a witness produced and sworn on part of 
plaintiff, deposeth and says : I reside at Newark. Am a tailor. 
Have resided there twenty years ; am married. I don't know 
Mary Ann Smith now present ; would not remember her. 1 re- 
member that a girl of the name lived with me and my wife as a 
servant, to take care of our child, about four years ago next No- 
vember. I would have taken her to be about eleven or twelve 
years of age. She was with us about a month. My wife dis- 
charged her because she was too young and fond of play. We did 
not discharge her for stealing. I did not know of iier stealing any- 
thing before we discharged her. After she had gone, her aunt 
came to the house and brought some trinkets, which appeared to 
be ours, and which she said Mary had stolen. There were some 
glass marbles which children play with, a comb and part of an old 



BY THE EOMAJSr CATHOLICS. 45 

brush, and a pair of old woolen leggins; they were all things we 
had known nothing at all about before her aunt came there with 
them. I never saw anything bad about the child while she was 
with us ; she was just like other children. We found no fault with 
her except that she was too young. 

Question, Your wife has been spoken to concerning this matter 
by Mary Ann's aunt ? 

A week or ten days ago the aunt stated to my wife that she 
wanted her to draw up and sign a paper stating that Mary Ann 
was a thief and a liar. My wife is seriously ill at present. (Coun- 
sel objects to the husband testifying as to what the wife did or 
said.) 

Chaeles Gaerett. 

Sworn to before me, this 25th day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingeaham, Justice, 

1. Notice how Mr. Garrett contradicts Mrs. Carrol- 
ton, the affectionate aunt. *' My wife discharged her 
because she was too young and fond of play. We 
did not discharge her for steaHng." 

2. Notice how the animus of the persecution crops 
out. She had become a Protestant and must be 
crushed ; and so her Catholic aunt goes to a woman 
with whom Mary Ann had lived years before, when a 
mere child, and tries to get a paper affirming that she 
was a thief and a liar ! And mark upon what grounds 
all this was alleged by her inhuman aunt ! 

Mrs. Mary gponlieimer. 

Mrs. Maet Sponheimee, being duly sworn as a witness for the 
Ee^'pondent, says : I reside at Newark. Carry on the business of 
ves^^making. Keep house, and have a family, my husband and four 
children. I know Mary Ann Smith here present. She has been 
in my employ about two years ago. I hired her to work on a 
sewing machine. She proved unable to do the work. Then I 
took her to baste. She was not accustomed to sewing, and could 
not earn her board at it. So I put her into the kitchen. I gave 
her four or five (I'm not certain which) dollars per month. She 
remained with me some four or ^yq months. The first time she 
was with me I liked her very well, and saw nothing bad about her. 



46 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

When I hired her again, I found her untruthful and accustomed to 
stay out at night till ten and eleven o'clock, and sometimes all 
night ; twice she remained out all night. Down stairs under my 
house there is a carriage house, and a number of rough young men 
loiter there. I saw Mary Ann in company with them standing at 
the gate with them, and talking through the fence. One day I 
heard them talking with her. I don't know what they said, but I 
heard her make the reply, " Go to hell." I immediately took her 
up stairs ; it hurt my feelings, and I cried and talked to her as a 
mother. She seemed at first stubborn, but at length confessed she 
had done wrong and promised to do better. I am the mother of 
three girls and one boy. My girls are all young ; my eldest is 
eleven. I did not consider it safe to have Mary Ann with my 
girl, because she on ona occasion carried my eldest girl with her to 
some house, and then told my girl to tell me they were elsewhere, 
and to deny they were at this house. Mary Ann was so accus- 
tomed to keep company with the young men down stairs that I 
feared they would take some advantage of my eldest girl. I knew 
her once to be out carriage riding with one of these young men. 
I did discharge her. I told her I would not keep her longer in the 
house. This was, I think, last fall. I discharged her because I 
did not think it was safe for her to be in the house with my chil- 
dren. She was dishonest. She stole three pairs of stockings from u 
me ; she was not truthful. ^ 

Q. What is your religion ? 

A. I am a Catholic, but go with my husband, who is a Protest- 
ant, to Church. My girls go to Catholic Church; my boy to 
Protestant. 

Cross-examined : After I discharged Mary Ann, she came to me 
and told me she had joined the Methodist Church. The reason of 
her coming was that she met my little girl in the street, and my 
girl told her I was going to have her arrested for stealing the 
stockings and other things I had missed ; she told me she had 
ioined the Church and became a different girl from what she had 
been. I told her that was no proof to me of her being any better. 
This was shortly before she was taken over to this city. 

M. Sponheimee. 

Sworn to before before me, this 25th day of June, 1868. f' 

D. P. Ingeaham, Justice, 

All this, if true, was montlis 'before she joined the 
M. E. Church, and while she was a good Catholic. 
And if this was the ground of her abduction, why was 
she not arrested then, instead of waiting till she became 
steady enough to earn seven dollars a month ? How 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 47 

obvious that all this, even if true, had nothing to do 
with her abduction and imprisonment. 

Mary Fox. 

Mary Fox, called as a witness for the respondent and being duly 
sworn, deposed and says : I reside in Newark. I keep house with 
my family. I know Mary Ann Smith here present. She came 
once to ray house, about six months ago, at eleven o'clock in the 
night. She wo aid not tell where she had been. She said she 
had no supper; I gave her some, and then sent her to her father's 
house. 

Cross-examined : I live in the same building with James Smith. 
It was about six or seven months ago since she came to my house, 
as above stated. I know nothing against Mary Ann's virtue. 

her 

Maey M Fox. 

mark. 

Sworn to before me, this 25th day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingeaham, Justice, 

Here we have the same story again, by another 
CathoHc. Mary Ann was wild, six or seven months 
before, when she was a CathoKc; from which Mr. 
Doane would have the public believe that this was the 
reason why she was imprisoned seven months after- 
ward, when she had become a steady and sober girl, 
and a consistent Christian. 

Mary MeI>oiiald. 

Maey McDonald, being duly sworn, deposes and says : I know 
Mary Ann Smith. I am her aunt — sister of her deceased mother. 
Mary Ann lived with me, since her mother's death, over two years, 
as a member of the family. The most of that time I sent her to 
school. She is a very untruthful girl. She has stolen several 
things from me ; stolen money and spent it. I saw to her ever 
since her mother's death, and tried to do all we could for her. 
She was very unruly, and I have had a great deal of trouble with 
her. Her father is an industrious, sober man, always working. Has 
always maintained his family as well as any man in his circum- 
stances. Her reputation in INTewark is bad. I advised placing her 
in the House of the Good Shepherd, in order to save her from 
shame. 



48 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

Cross examined : I am the wife of Mary Ann's uncle with whom 
she lived. James Smith, her father, is a sober man now. Some 
time ago he used to drink. The latest bad report I heard of 
Mary Ann was about seven months ago, when she was at Mrs. 
Sponheimer's. I heard there she kept bad company. 

Ma.ky McDonald. 

Sworn to before me, this 25th day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingraham, Jiistice. 

Here it is again ; a bad girl, seven months ago, etc. ; 
at school most of two years, and yet does not know 
her letters ! What a " school" that must have been ! 
Was it a public school, or a parochial Catholic school ? 



CHAPTEE VII. 

A.I1 Adverse Decision, and a new Line of Defence. 

At this point in the trial the Catholic lawyer moved 
that the writ be vacated, and Mary Ann left in confine- 
ment, on the ground that she was a minor, and her 
father had a right to place her in a nunnery if he 
chose to do so. To this Judge Ingraham replied, 
that she was a young girl, and that no father had a 
right to put such a girl with such associates (alluding, 
doubtless, to the abandoned women in the nunnery), 
and that unless the case could be lighted up in some 
way, he should never remand her back to the institu- 
tion. This seemed seriously to disconcert Mr. Doane 
and his lawyer. If the place was unfit for such a girl, 
they must either disprove the character of its inmates 
or make Mary Ann a proper subject for such a *' Mag- 
dalen Asylum ;" arid the latter, it seems, was decided 
upon as the nearest possible, namely, to destroy the 






BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 49 

character of their victim, and thus carry their point, 
and divert the public odium from themselves to her. 

Father Doane was heard to say to O'Connor, his 
lawyer, "tell me what testimony you want, and I will 
get it for you ;" and the Court was adjourned to the 
next day. 

The next morning Mr. Doane was seen in the corner 
of the room with two young men, vath whom he was in 
conversation, and looking and pointing to the place 
where Miss Smith and other ladies sat, as if helping 
them to identify her, preparatory to giving their testi- 
mony ; and in a short time they were brought on to the 
stand, and testified as follows : 

Jo§epli [Egbert. 

Joseph Egbert, a witness for respondent, being duly sworn, de- 
poses and says : I am twenty-one years of age ; am a painter by 
trade. I reside in ITewark. I work around the stable of Mr. 
Mullen on Warren street, Newark. Mrs. Sponheimer lives over at 
his stable. I am acquainted with Mary Ann Smith; this is she 
present. I have known her going on two years. I have been out 
with her. I went carriage-riding with her one Sunday last August. 
We were both together ; no one else with us. We went on the 
Plank Road ; Mary Ann drove. We stopped at a place she called 
" Snake Hill." It is a woody place on the roadside. Mary Ann 
got out of the carriage. She asked me if I was coming. I said 
yes, and followed her into the woods. * * * 

* * We then came out of the woods and to the 

carriage. I never, before that, nor since, had improper connexion 
with her. I have often met her in Newark, I walked with her at 
night. She offered no opposition to my cohabiting with her in the 
woods. I know one girl, whose name I don't know, who lived in 
Bank street, and was a companion of Mary Ann's. She was a 
prostitute. As far as I have seen of Mary Ann Smith, I have 
always seen her talk with fellows around the corner. Frank Mac- 
Bridge was one. He is a bad character. James Endice, a bad char- 
acter ; Jimmy O'Brien, a bad character, and others. They are all 
loose, disreputable young men. I got acquainted with Mary Ann 
while I worked in the stable. Mary Ann used to go around the 



50 



ABDUCTION OF MAKY ANN SMITH 



stable and carriage-house, look through the cracks, and talk to the 
fellows. She told me one night that she got a letter from Frank 
MacBridge. She told me that Frank MacBridge could go to hell ; 
that she wanted nothing to do with him. The next night I saw him 
and her standing together on the corner, between ten and eleven 
o'clock. I met her one night coming from dancing- school, about 
eleven o'clock. I do not know her father, I was at her house one 
night and stones were thrown at the door. I asked her what that 
was. She said some of her fellows were around. She was consid- 
ered a loose girl in Newark. I was brought up in the Methodist 
church, and go there when I go to church, which is seldom. 

Cross-examined : I had known Mary Ann about two years before 
I had intercourse with her as above stated. In August last I asked 
her on Saturday night to go riding, and she said she would go. 
The first I ever said abeut our sexual intercourse was yesterday; 
I then told the foreman of the stable. He asked me if I knew 
her, and had ever had dealings with her, and I told him yes, and 
told this story I have told to-day. I am sure I never mentioned it 
to any one else. Mr. Smith employed me last August. Mr. Mul- 
len is his partner. I got the carriage from Mr. Smith. I hired it 
for $3 50. I asked her if she wanted to go, and she said yes. I 
did not know how old she was. I judge her about sixteen. My 
character is about the same as that of the men in the shop. I have 
been in jail for assault and battery; also, my mother put me in 
these houses last winter, because I wanted to run away from her — 
just as Mary Ann is doing. I have had sexual intercourse with 
other women both before and since August last. The day we went 
out to ride, I took Mary in the carriage by her father's house. We 
rode down the Plank Road to the place where the road turns off 
to Snake Hill. From there we went down to the Plank Road and 
up to her bouse. Before we got to her house we met another 
girl; she got in the wagon along with u?, and we went down to 
Ferry street and down Ferry street to Mulberry street, through 
Mulberry to Market street, and down Market street to her house 
again ; they got out and I helped them; then went up to the stable 
with my horse. I saw Father Doane yesterday, and he asked me 
to come over here and testify. I was never in jail but those two 
times mentioned. I live at Newark, and did when I worked for 
Mr. Mullen. It is about eight or nine months since I have seen 
Mary Ann Smith before to-day in Court. I used to see her almost 
every day before that. I knew her name. I am positive tliat Mary 
Ann, now present, is the girl I had intercourse with, as above 
stated. Could not have been mistaken. I cannot write. 

his 

Joseph M Egbeiit. 

mark. 

Sworn to before me, this 25th day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingraham, Justice, 



BY THE EOMAN CATHOLICS. 51 

Observe, now, how fortunate it was for Mr. Doane 
that, just in the nick of time, only the day before this 
testimony was given, Mr. Doane should ascertain from 
Egbert, through the Catholic stable-keeper, that Eg- 
bert could swear that Mary Ann was a prostitute. 
"What a singular coincidence ! And still more strange — 
he sees Mr. Doane the same day that he reveals the 
precious secret, and is invited by him to go to New 
York and testify ! But just such testimony must be 
had, or the prisoner would be released ; and so it hap- 
pened (?) to be found at the right time. 

The new turn thus given to the case, made it neces- 
sary to recall Miss Smith, and, long as her testimony 
is, let none fail to read it, and mark its several points 
and its obvious candor and truthfulness : 

Mary Ann Ssnltli. 

Maey Ann Smith, recalled by plaintiff, deposes as follows : I am 
acquainted with a man named Joseph Egbert, who lived at Newark, 
and worked in Messrs. Mullin & Smith's stables. T was present 
yesterday, the 24:th of June, and heard his testimony. The first 
time I saw him was in the stable, but I did not speak to him. I 
saw him mostly every day after that, for about two months. One 
Sunday afternoon was the first time I spoke to him. Katie Sweeny 
introduced him to me in the street, near my father's door. It was 
during the time I was at Mrs. Sponheimer's ; Egbert was in a car- 
riage, and stopped to speak to Katie Sweeny ;he asked Katie to go 
riding, and she said she had no objections ; then he asked me to go ; 
then I came back to ray father's and got my hat. Katie came with me, 
and then we both got into the carriage ; then we drove to the plank 
road as far as the bridge ; then we went back again up Market street 
and up Broad street as far as the Park, then rode down to my father's 
door; then got out. Katie Sweeny was with us all the time we 
vfere riding.* We did not get out of the carriage at all until we 

* Mark this vital point. Egbert swore that they 
were alone till they met Kate Sweeny after they hacl 
been to the woods. Miss Smith says, '' Katie Sweeny 



53 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

came to my father's house. I have now stated all that occurred 
during the ride. Nothing improper happened between me and the 
said Egbert now present. I swear that, on my oath. I saw him 
the next day after the ride, but did not speak to him. I spoke to 
him only three or four times after that to the best of my belief, 
last time I spoke to him was about a week after the ride. About 
a week after the ride Katie Sweeny and he and me went down to 
my father's house ; we all went in to my father's house ; Egbert 
went in with us ; he stayed there about five or ten minutes. My 
step-mother was there. He went from there down to Oxford 
street, with me and Katie Sweeny. We went from there to tlie 
house of one of his acquaintances ; a lady. I don't know her name ; 
she was a married lady ; she told this young man about the 
death of her children ; tl^en we came from there to my father's 
house again. That was the last time I was with said Egbert or 
spoke to him. I have not seen him since then until yesterday. I 
knew his appearance when I saw him yesterday, but had forgotten 
his name. I never had any improper intercourse with said Egbert, 
or with any other man. I am willing to have this tested in any 
way the Court may direct.* I have heard the testimony of the man 

was witli us all the time ice were riding. We did not 
get out of the carriage at all until we came to my 
father's house. I have now stated all that occurred," 
etc' Now, this ^'Kate Sweeny" has since been seen 
by Mr. Gilbert and others, and she conj&rms the testi- 
mony of Miss Smith in every particular. She was in 
the carriage with her all the time, and nothing im- 
proper took place. 

At first, though a Catholic, Kate said she would go 
over to New York and testify, but since then she dare 
not go. The reader can well understand why ; and as 
she is out of the State where we need her to testify, 
we have not been able as yet to secure her testimony. 
But of the fact that she declares Mary Ann entirely in- 
nocent of any wrong at the time referred to, the public 
may be assured. 

"^ This she repeated in various forms from time to 
time. She was anxious to have a medical examination 



'^! 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 53 

Egbert given in this matter, and it is entirely false, except as I have 
above stated. While I was at Mrs. Brittins^ I took some castor oil 
and cod liver oil. I took this myself without direction ; the above 
were all the remedies I ever took. I remember when I stayed at 
Mrs. Garret's ; remember when I left there. Mrs. Garret never 
accused me of stealing.* My aunt accused me of so doing; she 
never found anything with me ; this was right after my mother 
died. I never took anything from my uncle's, Mr. McDonald ; no 
silks, nor money, nor other things as testified, except one piece of 
braid which I took to tie on my hair and afterward returned. I 
have had several conversations with my father and aunts since this 
case began. My father offered to take me out of the convent, if I 
resumed my former Catholic faith and be a good girl. That was 
to-day.t 

Cross-examined : After my mother died I lived with my aunt, 



to vindicate her purity, and convict Egbert and Ellis 
of perjury. To this end our counsel asked the Court 
to make an order, assigning her to the custody of two 
of the oldest surgeons in New York, to examine her 
as she desired, and report under oath as to the facts ; 
but the Coart denied the request ; and there the poor 
girl was left, with two shameless villains, as we shall 
see, both of whom had been twice each in jail, swearing 
that she was a prostitute, and she prepared and anx- 
ious to demonstrate their perjury by an infallible test, 
and yet not permitted to do so. How Judge Ingra- 
ham, who seemed to be a candid and fair-minded man, 
could deny this poor friendless orphan, when thus 
blasted in reputation, the privilege of vindicating her- 
self and confounding her persecutors, in the way she 
deserved, is unaccountable. 

^ So Mr. Garrett testifies. It was all the work of 
the Catholic aunt. 

t Mark this. And Doane has told her, since the de- 
cision of Judge Sutherland, that if she would renounce 
her heresy he would take her out in two days. 



54 ABDUCTION OF MAHY ANK SMITH 

Mrs. McDonald. I lived with her about nine months ; no longer. 
I also lived with her before my mother died. After I left my aunt, 
I went to live with Mrs. Garret ; lived with her a month ; she dis- 
charged me because 1 was not able to do her work. I was taking 
care of children; don't remember how many. I can't tell what 
wages I got ; I think not more than three or four dollars a month ; 
received my own wages. I went to see my aunt regularly while 
I lived there. My aunt went there once ; she went to see Mrs. 
Garret there. I was living with her then. After I was discharged 
from Mrs. Garret's I went home to my aunt's. I lived with Mrs. 
Sponheimer ; the last time two months. It was while living with 
her that I became acquainted with Egbert. I also, then, became 
acquainted with Frank Markridge ; he was a jeweler. Another 
gentleman made me acquainted with him. I don't know what this 
gentleman's name is. I think his name is James Garrigan. I 
really don't know how I got acquainted with James Garrigan. It 
was at the stable I got acquainted with Frank Markridge. I knew 
James Garrigan before I came to the stable. Mrs. Sponheimer 
lives over the carriage-house. I saw James Garrigan in the stable. 
I saw Frank Markridge in the stable; I talked with Garrigan, 
standing by Mrs. Sponheimer's door. I know four young men about 
that stable. I saw those young men every day. Some of them 
would speak to me and I used to answer. Kate Sweeny first in- 
troduced me to Mr. Egbert. Kate Sweeny was a companion of 
mine. I saw Mr. Egbert in the stable after he was made acquainted 
with me. I spoke to him in the stable. I know a man about the 
stable named Schaughnessy. I don't know where "Snake Hill" 
is. The only time I was on the Plank Eoad was when I went with 
Egbert carriage-riding ; that was the only time I ever was on 
the Plank Eoad. Egbert drove on the Plank Eoad; I did not 
drive. It was in a buggy ; one-seat buggy. I can't say whether it 
was a one or a two-horse buggy. I didn't know the horse's name. 
Cannot possibly remember how many horses there were in the 
buggy. This is when I lived with Mrs. Sponheimer that I went 
riding; it was towards evening that we went out riding; this was 
the first young gentleman that I ever went riding with. I never 
since went riding in a buggy. I never rode with Frank Markridge. 
I was never with Frank Markridge ; I never spoke to him except 
when I saw him at the stable. I never drove a horse nor held 
reins in my life. I sat on the outside of the buggy. I cannot say 
v/hether I sat on the left or right hand side of the buggy. I know 
a girl named Elizabeth Hughes, when I worked for Mrs. Spon- 
heimer. I worked in the shop with her ; was not intimate with 
her. I never had any conversation with her other than to pass a 
few words in the shop; she was a good girl as far as I knew. I 
never told Elizabeth Hughes that I was in the family-way. I never 
told her that I was married. Mrs. Sponheimer never asked mo 
whether I told Elizabeth Hughes that I was married. Mrs. Spon- 



BY THE ROMAIC CATHOLICS. 55 

heirner asked me whether I was marriecl. This was when I was 
living with her. I told her I was not married. I did not tell Mrs. 
Sponheimer that I told Elizabeth Hughes that I was married.* I 
never told any one that I was married. After I left Mrs. Spon- 
heimer, I staid a week with my step-mother. I did not tell my 
step-mother that I felt sick. I never told my step-mother that I 
felt as if I were in the family-way. I never went to a doctor in my 
life. I did not see Katie Sweeny since I went to Mrs. Brittins'. 
I did not see any of them since I left Mrs. Sponheimer. "When I 
was at Mrs. Sponheimer's no one ever asked me to go ride except 
Egbert. Egbert asked me and Katie Sweeny to go to ride one 
Sunday afternoon. I have been in Egbert's company twice. I 
knew Demmy Clarey. I became acquainted with him at my 
father's house. I cannot say who introduced me to him. My 
father forbade me going with Demmy Clarey. When I went riding 
I got into the carriage near my father's door. My step-mother saw 
me. My father did not. This was about a week before I left Mrs. 
Sponheimer the last time. Had seen Egbert before this. I never 
spoke to him before then. First went down the Plank Road as far 
as the bridge. Egbert asked me a question, I don't know what, 
but I answered " N^o." It was not an improper question. I was 
at Mrs. Sponheimer's about a month when I became acquainted 
with Frank Markridge. Egbert drove horses and washed car 
riages in the yard. There is a broad partition between the yards ; 
there are middling sized chinks in the partition, I believe. I never 
spoke through the chinks. One time while Egbert was drawing a 
pail of water in the yard, Egbert spoke to me. I was standing by 
the stoop ; I can't say what he said. I told him to mind his busi- 
ness, to leave me alone. Mrs. Sponheimer then called me up stairs. 
I told Mrs. Sponheimer I was not saying anything to the young 
men. Mrs. Sponheimer called me up stairs, and scolded me for 
talking to them. She was going to hit me ; she knocked my head 
against the wall. I cried. I did not tell her I'd do better. I have 
told a great many lies in my life without thinking. I am thinking 
now. Mr. Egbert never asked me to go to ride afterwards. Mr. 
Egbert nor any other young man never gave me any money. Mr. 
Egbert, on the day I went riding, did not give me any money. I 
was never in the woods on "Snake Hill." I don't know where 
'* Snake Hill" is. I never heard of the place till I heard of it here. 
The farthest I ever was on the Plank Road was on the bridge. I 
never walked out on the Plank Road. That was the only time I 
ever was on the bridge or on the Plank Road. I think I got into 
the carriage first that day. I left Mrs. Sponheimer's at two o'clock 
that day. Mrs. Sponheimer did not know where I was going. I 

^ See testimony of Elizabeth Hughes, on page 28, 
which was given in before Miss Smith's was recalled. 



66 ABDUCTION OF MAEY ANN SMITH 

then went to my father's. I met Katie Sweeny on the way. I 
went directly to my father's. I was not there half an hour. We 
then went out and met Eghert, Mrs. Sponheimer lives corner 
Warren street and Washington. My father lived on South Market 
street. It is not three miles from there to my father's. I took iny 
ease going along. The first person I met was Katie Sweeny. I 
met a couple of young ladies on the road, and talked with them, 
after I met Katie Sweeny. I saw carriages along the road. I can't 
say that I saw a carriage stop on the road. I might have seen a 
carriage stop on the road. I did not meet Mr. Egbert with a car- 
riage on the road. I did not go to "Snake Hill ''t)et ween the time 
I left Mrs. Sponheimer and went to my father's. I went to the 
House of the Good Shepherd a week before the first of April. I 
went then against my will.. My father took me there and left me there. 
I am a Methodist. I was converted a little after New Year's. I was 
at Mrs. Brittins' house when I was converted. I was doing house- 
work. Mrs. Brittins kept a boarding-house; I got $7 a month. I 
wished to go to the Protestant Church, and I went with her daughter. 
My father is a Roman Catholic. I had no reason for wishing to go to 
the Protestant Churchy I thought I could not save my soul by re- 
maining in the Catholic Church. I received Communion in the 
Catholic Church once a month up to the time I was converted. I 
confessed at the Washington Street Catholic Church, once a month, 
to Father Wigan and to Father Doane, and received sacramental 
confession once a month, up to the time of my conversion to Meth- 
odism.* I did not deny to any one ever that I joined the Meth- 
odist Church. I did not deny last night that I was a Methodist ; I 
never told any one that I would never leave the Catholic Faith. I 
have renounced the Catholic Faith forever. My occupation at the 
House of the Good Shepherd is sewing. I sew from eight in the 
morning until twelve at noon ; fine sewing ; then I commence again 
at one o'clock, and sew continually till six in the evening. There 
is always a Mother present while I sew. There is always a Sister 
present in the room. After I quit sewing, I go to tea. There is a 
Sister present while w^e are at tea. We commence prayers at a 
quarter to eight o'clock, and pray till eight. We are sent to bed at 
eight. When all the children are in bed the Sister leaves. We 
are all called children. We come down stairs at six in the mor- 
ning ; then we have morning prayers and go from there to Mass.t 

^ Let the reader notice that she was a devoted Cath- 
olic all this time, confessing at Doane's church ; and 
if she did anything wrong he knew all about it. 

t *' To Mass," observe, and yet the *' Mother'' swore 
in her Answer that it was not a sectarian institution. 
See page 18. 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 57 

I don't pray at the Mass ; thej don't require ns to unless we wish. 
I am acquainted with one child in there, about eighteen or nine- 
teen ; her name is Mary Bigelow. 'No conversation allowed during 
sewing hours, but we have it sometimes. I am desirous of leaving 
the convent. I did not tell my father I'd do anything he'd tell 
me to if he'd take me from there. I asked my father to take me 
from there. I get enough to eat such as it is. 1 think I sleep enough. 
The food I got there is not as good as the food I got when I was a 
servant girl. I told my father, if he took me from there I would do 
anything for him that was right — except change my faith.* I did 
not deny to Father Doane that I joined the Methodist Church. 

Re-examined by Plaintiff: I have not seen any of the fellows 
around the stable since I lived with Mrs. Sponheimer. I have not seen 
Katie Sweeny since I went to Mrs. Brittins', before last Christmas. 
I think it likely they were not good company for me. I have not 
seen any of them since I went to Mrs. Brittins'. I have not kept 
company with any one since I went to Mrs. Brittins', except Mr. 
Van Ness who used to see me home from church. I believe I used 
to tell stories sometimes before I was converted. I did some other 
wrong things them ; I was wild. I did not think about right and 
wrong as I do now.t Since I was converted I have tried to do my 
duty. I have left off aU bad company. I pray habitually to God 
for help to lead a virtuous life. My only object in joining the 
Methodist Church was to save my soul and to gain happiness. 
While I was at Mrs. Sponheimer's she was not kind to me. She 
was severe to me ; used to whip me. I don't recollect her using 
bad language to me. I have no ill feelings towards my father and 
friends. I forgive them what they have said and done about me ; 
but I cannot forget it, and I never wish to go to them again. 

her 

Maey Ann X Smith. 

mark. 

^ Notice how firm she is, after having been three 
months in prison for changing her religion. 

t What an obvious frankness and sincerity in this 
testimony. She was an imcultured and giddy young 
girl, and does not deny it. Yet she was acceptable as 
a Catholic. But now that she is converted, and is liv- 
ing a blameless life, as a Protestant, she is seized and 
confined in a prison, and everything possible raked up 
to blacken her character. Yet mark the Christlike 
spirit in which she speaks of them after all this ! A 
lamb in the midst of wolves ! 



58 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 1 

Sworn to before me this 25tli day of June, 1868. 

The above witness being sworn, and the signature of the Judge 
not having been appended, by inadvertence, it is hereby consented 
that the above testimony be received in the same force and effect 
as though properly certified as sworn testimony. 

T. O'CoNNOE, Atty. for Respondent, 
LoED & SKiDisioiiEj Attys. for Flaintiff. 

Josepti Egbert, recalled. 

JosEpn Egbert, recalled for the respondent, being duly sworn, 
testifies : I have heard the testimony of Mary Ann Smith yester- 
day. I do not, after hearing her, wish to alter my previous testi- 
mony about the carriage-ride affair. I was in the carriage. I over- 
took Mary Ann Smith on the road from Mrs. Sponheinier's to her 
father's house, about two o'clock, Sunday afternoon. She was 
alone. I took her into the carriage and drove down Market street, 
on to the Plank Eoad. When on the Plank Koad she took the 
reins and drove up to the bridge, then turned on to the road which 
leads to the wood. She then got out, and the cohabitation took 
place as I have previously testified. I gave her fifty cents in the 
woods. When coming back in the carriage, after leaving the 
woods, we met Kate Sweeny on the road. Mary Ann introduced 
me to her. Mary Ann and I got out, and then the introduction to 
Kate Sweeny took place. Mary Ann then asked Kate to have a 
ride, and Kate said yes. We then all got in and drove on Broad 
and Market Street and Fair Street, and on some other streets ; re- 
turned to Market Street to Mary Ann's father's house. The girls 
got out then, and I returned, with the horse, to the stable. I pos- 
itively swear, as I have before sworn, that when Mary Ann and I 
went to the woods, there was no one else with us.* 

Cross-examined by plaintiff: I live with my mother at Newark. 
Have lived there about eight years. Am a painter by trade ; I 
work at Mr. Mullen's stable. I make three and four dollars a 
week. 1 don't exactly remember the date of my ride with Mary 
Ann. It was on the 5th or 6th day of August, I am certain of that. 
I came from the stable when I met Mary Ann. I don't know what 
time I left the stable; it was about half an hour before I met 
Mary Ann. The last thing I did before leaving was to clean the 1^ 

" But Mary Ann, who has never been in jail, *^ posi- 
tively swears" that this statement is false; and Kate 
Sweeny could as positively confirm the statement un- 
der oath, if she were not afraid of violence from her 
Catholic friends. 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 59 

horse I drove. I cleaned five horses there, before I cleaned my 
horse. I ate my breakfast at about seven o'clock in the morning. 
I had beefsteak and bread and butter for breakfast, and te^.; that 
is all I had. My mother was at the table with me ; no one else ; 
no one else in the room. I washed myself before breakfast. I 
recollect doing so. I got np that morning about four o'clock. It 
was middling light then ; light enough to see. It was a pretty 
clear day all day. After getting up, and before washing, I took the 
bedding from the horses ; I recollect doing so. I took the bedding 
that morning from Sorrel BiU, Frank pony. Dr. Kitchler, Major, 
bay pony Chartie, bay mare; that's all I remember. I remember 
taking the bedding from each of the horses I have mentioned on 
that particular morning. "When I left Mary Ann I went to the 
stable. I got there about six o'clock. I unhitched the horse from 
the buggy and put him in his stall ; then went into the office and took 
ofif my coat ; then went outside and bedded them. I mean all the 
horses ; there were fifteen or sixteen in all ; then went down the 
cellar and got the feed, cut the hay, put it in the box. Then went 
in the office and put my coat on ; then went up home ; got my 
supper ; about half-past seven or eight o'clock ; after my supper I 
went back to my stable again ; stayed there till ten o'clock ; went 
home and went to bed at half-past ten or eleven o'clock. I got 
the carriage at Mr. Mullen's for $3 50 ; I asked the foreman of the 
stable for it. I asked him for it the same Sunday morning. I asked 
him after I came from my breakfast. I was then washing some 
wagons. I said I want to hire a wagon and a horse for half 
the day. Says he, I'U let you know by noon. So he asked Mr. 
Smith, and he said I could have it for $3 50. He told me I could 
have it exactly at twelve o'clock. The bells were ringing at the 
time. I had one horse in the wagon ; this horse was a sorrel; his 
name was Sorrel Bill ; I don't know how old he was. I went right 
down Market street on leaving the stable, as far as the gas-house, 
where I met Mary Ann in South Market street. I met her and 
pulled up to the sidewalk and she got in. Rode down to the 
Plank Road ; down towards 'New York as far as the bridge ; turned 
round and came back as far as first road to the right which leads 
to Snake Hill. We were about three-quarters or half hour going 
from the gas-house to the bridge on the Plank Road, and from there 
to the road that turned off about eight minutes. I think it was 
about fifteen minutes before we got to Snake HilL There is a wood 
right along the road at Snake Hill ; not on both sides of the road ; 
only on one side; there is a lot on the other side; an open lot; 
no houses on it. I tied the horse to the fence at the right hand 
side of the road ; a post and rail fence. I put the strap through a 
hole in the post, and tied him very short. This was the side the 
wood was on; we were about half an hour in the wood before we 
got back to the carriage. I had a whip in the buggy. I remember 
all these points distinctly; She sat on the 1 eft hand side, not next 



60 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

the whip. I can't tell what time we met Kate Sweeny. I don't 
know how long it took to get back from the woods to where we 
met h^er. I had never seen Kate before. I did not know her name 
Mary Ann was driving when we met Kate Sweeny. • From the 
time I got into the carriage at the woods, till we met Kate Sweeny, 
I was talking with Mary Ann ; talking and laughing all the time. 
Don't recollect what we talked about. 

his 

Joseph M Egbert. 

mark. 

Sworn to before me, this 2Gth day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingraham, Justice. 

There is much in the manner and appearance of a 
witness to modify the impression made by his words ; 
and in this case there was an air of fearfulness, and an 
irritability about the witness that impressed us that he 
was telling a tale which he had woven to order, and 
that he was fearful of being caught in some way. We 
have seldom seen a witness more wanting in candor 
and apparent fairness and truthfulness. Yet he per- 
formed his part, and the above is the result. 

But it was not deemed safe to leave the case to hang 
upon the testimony of one man, and so a second was 
in readiness to testify. These were the two men who 
were seen with Doane, identifying Miss Smith. Now 
hear what this young villain has to say : 

Sdward Sllis. 

Edward Ellis, called as a witness for respondent, being duly 
sworn, testified : I reside in Newark. Am a file-cutter by trade. 
I know Mary Ann Smith named in the writ of habeas corpus. This 
is she (witness points out Mary Ann Smith). I have known her 
since last September. I first became acquainted with her at Smith 
and Mullen's stable corner of Warren and Washington streets, 
Newark. I was working at the stable at the time driving coaches. 
I first made the acquaintance of Mary Ann Smith last September. 
One day when I and MacBridge were in the hay-mow, Mary Ann 
was on the roof of the stable with Mary Ann Bowers. We com- 
menced talking through a hole in the top of the mow. A window 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 61 

opens on the roof of the stable from Mrs. Sponheimer's house. A 
week afterwards I met Mary Ann Smith in the stable yard. She 
was alone. I asked her to come in the other stable yard, and she 
said yes, and came with me into the other yard. This was about 
half-past seven or eight o'clock in the evening, last September. 
After she came into the yard, I asked her to come into a coach 
A close coach, doors on the sides. I went in right behind her. 

* * H! * * * 

^ * * She then got out of the coach 

and went into Mrs. Sponheimer's house. I worked in the stable 
about two months after that. She soon after left Mrs. Sponheimer. 
This is the same Mary Ann Smith here present. 

Cross-examined : I was eighteen years of age the 2d May last. 
I drove coaches while at the stable. I don't recollect what day of 
the week or day of the month it was that I got into the coach with 
Mary Ann. It was early in September last. Mrs. Sponheimer's 
back stairs came right into the stable yard. I came in the yard 
first ; Mary Ann next. I said, " Good evening ; where are you 
going?" she said, "Nowhere." I said " Come into the yard." She 
came. I said " Come take a look at the coach." I opened the 
door and we got iu. I said nothing more to her at aU. I saw her 
twice after that, down in the lower part of the city. The last time 
1 saw her was over six months ago. I never had intercourse 
with her more than once. I have had with other women both 
before and after that time.* I never had a venereal disease. I 
have been accused of crime ; to wit, of assault and battery, and of 
breaking away from apprenticeship; nothing else. I have been 
in jail for three months at one time, and for twenty days for assault 
and battery on a policeman. I knew the witness Egbert ; he was in 
jail the same time I was.t I don't know for what offence. I attend 

^ No doubt of this part of tlie testimony ; and it 
shows his general character; and his whole bearing 
and manner in Court showed him to be a depraved and 
hardened villain. 

t Beautiful witnesses, these, to swear away the vir- 
tue of a young girl, with the character given her by 
her Pastor, and members of the Church, and Mr. and 
Mrs. Brittins, and Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald. And one 
one of them is now in jail for stealing fourteen dol- 
lars, since he testified. Such are the witnesses pro- 
cured by Doane, to keep his victim still in confine- 
ment. 



62 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANJST SMITH 

the Fifth Baptist Church. I have been there three times in the 
month. The foreman of the stable spoke to me about coming here 
to testify. I know Father Doane ; have never spoken with him. 
I had never spoken to Mary Ann but once before I got in the coach 
with her. I thought she would get in the coach from the way she 
talked on the top of the mow. There was no one in the yard either 
before or after. 

:ii :{: H: Hi 

Edwaed Ellis. 
Sworn to before me, this 26th day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingraham, Justice, 

So weak was this positive testimony regarded, that, 
in the opinion of Doane's counsel, it needed to be 
braced by something additional from the " stable," and 
the following was furnished by a burly Irish Catholic : 

Jolin §liaugline§sy. 

John Shaughnessy, called as a witness for the Eespondent, be- 
ing duly sworn, testifies: I work at Mullins' stable corner of 
Warren and Washington streets. I sleep in the stable office. I 
know Mary Ann Smith here present. I first came to know her 
when she worked for Sponheimer. She frequented the stable, and 
kept company with the young men who used to loaf around there. 
I saw her talk to Markings and Egbert and Sleming and others 
who used to come around. She was not around in the day time; 
at night. Almost every night she was around the stable with those 
young men at and after the hour of eleven o'clock ; sometimes as 
late as half-past eleven at night. From her actions and being out 
late I considered her a rough girl. 

John Shaughnessy. 

Sworn to before me, this 26th day of June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingeaham, Justice, 

Let the reader keep in mind that she lived over this 
stable, and that whenever she was on the back stoop, 
or in the yard, she was exposed to the gaze and re- 
marks of these "loafers.'* What a place for a young 
girl to be placed in any way. And yet the witness 
does not say she was ever in the stable-yard where the 
loafers were. She " kept company " with them by 



BY THE ROMAK CATHOLICS. 63 

^seeing them, and sometimes being spoken to by tliem. 
That was all. And Mrs. Sponheimer does not inti- 
mate that Mary Ann was ever out thus late nights 
while in her employ. This testimony, also, is there- 
fore obviously a manufactured make-weight. 

One more *' good Catholic " witness and the testi- 
mony is all in : 

Elizabetli Muglie§. 

I know Mary Ann Smith, and knew her when she lived with 
Mrs. Sponheirner. I worked on vests in the house. I have known 
Mary Ann for two years. I talked with her while she was at Mrs. 
Sponheimer' s. Mary Ann told me, she, Mary Ann Smith herself, 
was in the family way. Did not say by whom. She lived at Mrs., 
I think, for near a year. I don't Imow exactly how long. 

Gross- examined : I am twenty-three years old next September. I 
asked Mary Ann how long she had been married. She said three 
weeks. When she told me she was in the family way she said she 
was going away. I couldn't say as to her being in the familyway. 
I never saw any reason to suppose she was. She told me honestly 
and privately that she was married, and that the young man's 
name was Denis Clarey. This was in the Fall when she was at 
Mrs. Sponheimer's house. I know Father Doane. I am a Catho- 
lic, and a good one. 

Elizabeth Hughes. 

Sworn to before me, this 26th June, 1868, 
D. P. Ingeaham, Justice, 

The production of childish gossip which occurred, if 
at all, between her and another girl months before her 
conversion, shows the desperation of the defence to 
ruin the character of the prisoner if possible, as the 
only means of keeping her in confinement, and thus 
making a " good Catholic " of her. But let it stand 
for all it is worth. And now, having the whole case 
before us, so far as the testimony is concerned, let us 
briefly analyze the evidence and see how far it justifies 
the " Ansv/er," that she is confined for other reasons 
than for becoming a Protestant. 



64 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Analysis of the Testimony; and General Eemarks upon 

the Case. 

Having the whole case now before us, the following 
points must be obvious to every unprejudiced reader : 

1. Except in the ''Answer" to the writ, there is not 
a shadow of evidence, nor even an allegation on the 
part of Doane, her father, or any one else, that Mary 
Ann was not living a regular and virtuous life at the 
time of her abduction, except that she was attending a 
Methodist church, and that she was thereby " in dan- 
ger of losing her faith and morals." 

2. The great effort to impeach her virtue was not 
made or contemplated till the decision of the court 
made it absolutely necessary in order to retain their 
hold upon her. Up to that time it was only charged 
that she was " stubborn," and "disobedient," and "in 
danger of losing her faith," etc. 

3. All the improprieties alleged were from six 
months to four years before she was abducted, at 
which time she was a Catholic ; and yet, if all that is 
alleged is true, nothing was done by her priest to- 
wards shutting her up or restraining her, though he 
was her " Father Confessor," and must have known 
through the confessional all that was going on. For 
she testifies that she went to confession and commu- 
nion every month up to the time of her conversion. 
Why, then, did not Father Doane lock her up for being 
such a dissolute young Catholic ? 



}\ 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 65 

4. We have the unequivocal testimony of Mr. and 
Mrs. Brittins, Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald, Eev. Mr. Gil- 
bert, her pastor, and two other members of the church 
to which she belonged, that her deportment was in all 
respects blameless from the time she went to live at 
Mr. Brittins, some three months before her abduction, 
to the time of that event ; and none of them had even 
lieard of or suspected anything amiss in her character 
and conduct. Now allowing, for the present, that all 
that Egbert and Ellis allege was true — that in Septem- 
ber she had been guilty of fornication with them (once 
each, for that is all that they allege), and suppose that 
in January following she is convinced of sin, repents, 
finds mercy, and enters upon a new life. Suppose, 
even, she had been as wicked as Mary Magdalena, and 
had repented and reformed, and was Uving, as all 
affirm or admit, a blameless and Christian life, except 
that she was a Protestant ; what justification does all 
that afi'ord for her abduction and imprisonment ? 

At the very worst, even allowing that this young 
girl had been, seven months before her abduction, dis- 
solute and wicked ; but had seen her folly, repented, 
been pardoned and renewed by the grace of God, and 
was living a consistent. Christian life ; the sins of the 
past are no justification whatever for her abduction 
and imprisonment. Though a Catholic at the time 
when it is said she was abandoned, she is neither im- 
prisoned nor excommunicated ; but as soon as she be- 
comes a Protestant, and is leading a regular and con- 
sistent life, she is pounced upon by the priest and his 
alKes, and shut up in a Catholic prison ! 

So far, then, as the question of her former virtuous- 



66 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

ness is concerned, it really has no bearing upon the 
case, whatever may have been the facts. Her wicked- 
ness while a Catholic in September, would be no reason 
why she should be arrested in March, if she was then a 
consistent and well-behaved Protestant. In this light, 
therefore, this desperate attempt at a justification is an 
utter failure. 

5. But we deny that the evidence of her criminality 
is worthy of the slightest credit. Look at the charac- 
ter of the main witnesses — two jail-birds and compan- 
ions of lewd women, and one of them since in jail for 
stealing. Here is the certificate of the warden of the 
Essex County (N. J.) prison, showing when and for 
what Egbert was imprisoned : 

Essex Co. Pbisox, Office, ) 
Newark, Sept. 7, 1868. \ 

I certify, on honor, that Joseph Egbert has been an inmate of 
this prison, committed by his mother on the 25 th day of Septem- 
ber, 18G7, as a disobedient son, in keeping female company she 
did not approve of; and on the 2d of March, 1868, he was convict- 
ed of larceny, and sentenced to two month's imprisonment on said 
charge, which term he served and was discharged. 

A. J. JOHXSON", Warden. 

Remember, also, the sudden manner in which the 
testimony of these two men was discovered — the fact 
that neither of them had ever before spoken of their 
exploits, or repeated them with her ; — the calm and 
strightforward testimony of the victim of their slan- 
ders ; and the testimony that Kate Sweeny tvoiild 
give, if she dare, that Miss Smith told the truth, and 
that Egbert swore to a falsehood — look at all these 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 67 

facts, and see if the testimony of such men is to be be- 
lieved for one moment against that of the prisoner, 
whose good character, aside from this testimony, is 
fully certified to by her pastor and six other worthy 
citizens and Christians, and stands unimpeached and 
animpeachable before the Court and before the world. 

And it should be borne in mind that MuUin, at 
whose stable Egbert, Ellis, and Shaughnessy worked, is 
a Catholic, and furnishes most of the carriages for 
Catholic funerals in Newark, and had every motive of 
sectarianism and of interest for doing his best to 
please Doane. Hence he was at Court from day to 
day, and could easily help to drum up the very testi- 
mony needed when the emergency came. For all 
these reasons we put no confidence whatever in the 
testimony of these men. The whole thing was an 
after tlioiight, resorted to when every other justification 
for her confinement had failed, and they must either 
set her at liberty or resort to this desperate expe- 
dient. 

6. We should not lose sight of the important fact, 
that after the testimony of Egbert and Ellis, and feel- 
ing crashed and ruined in reputation thereby, this 
poor girl, when conversed with upon the subject by 
ladies present, was anxious to prove herself a virgin, 
and her accusers, conspirators, and perjured villains, 
by a surgical examination. 

The writer had consulted an aged and competent 
practitioner, who avered that, under the circumstances, 
such an examination would be conclusive. We were 
ready and anxious to apply that test. The girl was as 
anxious as we were, though she knew that if she was 



68 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

guilty, it would convict her of fornication and perjury, 
and consign her to her prison-house, perhaps for 
j^ears. 

Now let any candid person read her testimony, and 
consider the character she bore among her Protestant 
employers and other friends, and see if you can be- 
lieve it possible that she was guilty of what was alleged, 
and knew it all this time ! 

In vieAv of her consistent life since she has been 
with Protestants ; her candor and artlessness in giving 
her testimony; her firm adherence to the faith of 
Christ all this time, and her excellent spirit under 
such trying circumstances— in view of all this we firmly 
believe that she is guiltless as an angel of the crimes 
charged upon her by these two men; and that her 
anxiety to clear herself by an examination should not 
only have been met by an order from the Court per- 
mitting such examination, but is, of itself, of far more 
weight in her favor, than the testimony of a dozen 
such men as Egbert and Ellis can be against her. 

7. One other thing should be borne in mind. During 
the whole trial she was in the hands of her enemies, 
and usually well surrounded by them even in Court. 
It was with difficulty that any of us could speak to 
her. She was brought from the convent in the mor- 
ning, by nuns, and taken back and locked in at night. 
These were hard circumstances under which to testify, 
especially for a girl of sixteen. Whether she would 
be released or not she knew not ; and if not released, - 
what would be the consequences of her having testified 
as she did, she could not anticipate. And yet, with 
all these surroundings, and not knowing what was be- 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 69 

fore her, she was as Jfirm as a rock from first to last . 
Her whole bearing, conversation, and spirit impressed 
those who saw and heard most of her, that she was a 
really converted person, and possessed the martyr's 
spirit ; and would probably die before she would re- 
nounce the faith of Christ which she had so cor- 
dially embraced. But of all these things the reader 
will judge for himself. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

Final Hearing and Decision by the Court. 

During the process of the trial, the case was before 
three different judges. First, it was before Judge In- 
graham, who, so far as he went, seemed disposed to 
administer even-handed justice. Then it was before 
Judge Barnard once or twice, who simply adjourned it 
over, and finally it came before Judge Sutherland. 
After the testimony was all in, he took all the papers 
and fixed upon July 10th, as the day for a hearing of 
counsel. Mr. Lord prepared his points in waiting 
(and in our humble judgment they were very strong 
and well put), but instead of a hearing, he was told, as 
he was opening his plea, that he could not be heard — 
there were so many other cases waiting, or something 
of the sort ; and the following decision was rendered, 
without hearing anything from counsel, viz. : 

** This is an embarrassing case, and not free from doubt ; but, 
upon the whole, I think the writ must be dismissed and the pris- 
oner remanded to custody." 

" Counsel for plaintiff then asked the Judge to make some order 



70 ABDUCTION OF MAEY ANX SMITH 

for the disposition and custody of the child until the case could be 
reviewed on appeal; but this the Judge refused to do, on the 
ground that he had no power to do so ; his former order having 
terminated the proceedings." 

Of course the Eomanists were pleased with this de- 
cision, but the poor girl and her friends w^ere sad. 
Mary Ann wept, and seemed almost broken-hearted. 
Nearly all the reporters present were touched by the 
scene, and spoke of her distress in their reports for 
the papers. After she left the court-room, Mr. Gil- 
bert and the writer^ got access to her, in the presence 
of two or three. ^ Her pastor bade her *^ good-bye," as 
cheerfully as he could, and we said to her " do not de- 
spair. You have friends outside, and we shall not re- 
lax our efforts; and you may yet hope to get out." 
At this the " Reverend Mother " snapped out, " Yes, 
get out, and go to hell !" Upon this Mary Ann turned 
to her, and in a mild and respectful tone and manner 
said : " Well, Mother, you may shut me up, and starve 
me, and do what you please with me, but I shall never 
renounce my religion.'' We asked her if she was obliged 
to attend services in the convent ; to which she an- 
swered, ** Yes, I have to go through their forms of ser- 
vice, but I worship God in my own way after all ;" and 
she was led away as a lamb to the slaughter. 

This is the last that any of her Protestant friends 
have heard from her, and she has now (Sept. 15th) 
been in confinement nine weeks since that time — in 
all from March 26th — nearly six months already in 
prison for being converted to Christ and joining a Pro- 
testant church. And unless the reader has learned to 
the contrary through the newspapers, he may be sure. 



«S! 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 71 

as he reads, that she is still in confinement, if not 
dead and privately buried. 

As to the decision of Judge Sutherland, we can only 
say that it strikes us as a very singular one. It was a 
misfortune to us that the case was not all heard before 
the same Judge ; for, as it was, the Judge who finally 
decided it, knew nothing of its animus, except what 
appeared in the testimony, which was quite volumin- 
ous, and some of it hardly legible. It seemed to us, 
therefore, that he scarcely entered into the merits of 
the case. But so it was. 

Upon one point, however, in our view, the decision 
is self-condemned. If the case was "not free from 
doubt," the poor friendless girl should have had the 
benefit of the doubt. But it was not so. The Judge 
doubted, but took the oppressors' side rather than 
that of the oppressed. In this we are free to say that 
we think he erred, and ignored not only justice and 
mercy, but all wholesome maxims and precedents. 
Happy will those judges be who can say of their ad- 
ministration at the last, as old Job said of his, " I 
brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil 
^ut of his teeth. 



CHAPTEE X. 

Comments of the Press. 

As a matter of history, and to show in coming years 
how the matter was regarded at the time, we give a 
chapter of extracts from the religious and secular 
press. 



72 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

The Koman Catholic papers all did their best to 
sink the character of the poor girl to the lowest 
depths. The New York Tablet led the way as follows : 

The New York Tablet, July 25th. 

" "Who is Mary Ann Smith V Why, Mary Ann Smith is simply 
Mary Ann Smith, the new '*Mortara," an interesting juvenile who, 
haviDg graduated with distinguished success on the streets of New- 
ark, has attained to a degree of precocious profligacy that com- 
pelled her own father to apply for her admission to the House of 
the Good Shepherd, etc. 

And thus on tlirough a column and a half. Was 
ever anything more libelous and diabolical ! And yet 
the poor victim of this Eomish malice is dumb herself, 
and has no relative to take her part against her fiend- 
ish maligners. 

The Pittsburg Catholic said : 

After her mother's death she went to live with a Methodist fom- 
ily, and was persuaded to attend Methodist meetings. Her virtue 
was in serious danger, if it had not been already lost among her 
new associates. She became the companion of lewd women and 
Methodist young men, etc. 

A fair specimen, this, of the truthfulness of the 
Catholic press, in regard to all the operations of their 
church and priesthood. 

The other Catholic papers followed suit, some not 
quite so gross, but others even worse, till the impres- 
sion is made all over the land among Komanists, that 
this innocent young girl is nothing more or less than 
an abandoned prostitute ! 

Thus Eomanism deals with all who leave her pale. 
Hence, Thomas Quinn, the priest who immortalized 
the already immortal " Eev. J. McMillen, D.D.," spoke 
of Hogan and Leahy, two Catholic priests of many who 



BY THE KOMAN CATHOLICS. 73 

Lave come out of Babylon, and of Maria Monk, as 
" tlie execrable Hogan and Leahy, and the prostitute 
outcast Maria Monk." But she, too, was a good 
Catholic, and even a " sister " without rebuke, till she 
unveiled the impurities of Eoman Catholic nunneries. 
Then she was little better than a demon. 

The Protestant press were of one mind, and with 
one exception that we remember spoke out boldly in 
regard to the outrage. But we must not take space 
for extracts. A few from the secular press are all we 
have room to quote. 

From the Is'ew York Times — Editorial. 

Imprisonment of a Young Woman in ITew Yoek foe Tuening 
Peotf.stant. — A case of the deepest interest to Protestants as well 
as Catholics, and involving principles of religious liberty as well as 
of parental jurisdiction, was decided by Judge Sutherland, in the 
Supreme Court of the State, in this city, yesterday. The circum- 
stances will be found reported in detail in our legal columns. 

A young woman of Catholic paternity and training was convert- 
ed from the Eoman Church to the Protestant faith. She was a 
person of good character, excellent conduct, intelligence, and 
strong convictions. Shortly after she had become a member of 
the Methodist denomination, her father had her arrested for the 
offence, and incarcerated in a Catholic institution, known as the 
*' House of the Good Shepherd," — an institution which has a de- 
partment called the Reformatory Department, the inmates of 
which are forcibly detained and disciplined for the benefit of their 
souls. 

A few days ago, some friends of the girl attempted to secure her 
release on a writ of habeas corpus ; and she was brought from the 
institution to the Court. She reiterated her renunciation of 
Catholicity and her adhesion to Protestantism, and expressed her 
anxiety to return to the friends who had protected her. Her 
father, however, declared she was a wayward girl, and that it was 
to keep her from evil that he had put her under restraint, by con- 
finement in the Catholic institution. 

After the hearing of evidence and argument, Judge Sutherland 
decided that the writ must be dismissed, and the prisoner remand- 
ed to the custody of the House of the Good Shepherd. There- 
upon she was taken out of Court by her custodians, evidently (ac- 
cording to our reporter) *' in a very distressed state of mind." 



74: ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

From the New York Times — Law Report. 

The particulars of this case, heretofore published in the Times, 
are somewhat peculiar, and withal interesting — so much so that we 
will briefly recapitnlate. Mary Ann Smith is a motherless girl, 
aged now about sixteen years. At the instance of her father, she 
was some time ago placed in the custody of the "Sisters" at the 
House of the Good Shepherd, a reformatory institution located on 
the upper part of this island. 

For some months prior to her arrest and incarceration in the 
above-named institution, she was living in a quiet way, with a most 
respectable family, in the city of Newark, N. J. Her father is a 
Eoman Catholic. What her mother was prior to her death does 
not appear. A short time ago, and while in the family at Newark, 
Mary Ann became strongly impressed with the idea that the Eo- 
man Catholic is not the true faith. She, therefore, abandoned it 
and joined a Methodist church. Affidavits made by her friends 
show that for months prior to her admission to the Methodist 
church her conduct was most exemplary, and that her character 
was as good as that of any in the church. 

On the other hand, her father — who seems, by the way in which 
he swears, to have more sympathy for Satan than he has affection 
for his daughter — insists that she is disposed to be a bad girl, etc. 

Of the nunnery this reporter said : 

During the investigation it transpired that this House of the 
Good Shepherd is a very peculiar institution. There is first a de- 
partment which may be termed the voluntary department. Gills 
and young ladies go there of their own choice, or are sent 
thither by their parents or guardians for the purpose of obtaining 
a good education. In other words, it is a convent so far as the 
training of youthful females is concerned, and none of the other sex 
are taken into the institution. In another department young fe- 
males are taken, as it were, on probation, but in the third class 
they are taken in as if it were a place of punishment — that is 
termed the reformatory department. The idea is to punish 
young women, and at the same time reform them if possible. 
What are the rules, regulations, penances, punishments, etc., as 
practiced in the third department of the House of the Good Shep- 
herd upon the young lady inmates thereof, did not transpire upon 
the hearing before the Court. 

After the final decision was rendered he says : 

The girl was thereupon taken out of Court, evidently in a very 
distressed state of mind. It is not probable that a case of this na- 
ture will be allowed to rest where it is. 



BY THE ROMAJST CATHOLICS. 75 

From the N. Y. Sun — Law Keport. 

Upon the argument, Mr. Lord, for the relator, stated the facts as 
developed hy the testimony to be, that Mary Ann Smith, who is 
now sixteen years old, had since the death of her mother, about 
five years ago, lived out at service most of the time, and for the 
last year had supported herself. In January, 1868, she became a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in ITewark, and since 
that time had lived a good and consistent life, as appeared by the 
evidence of her employers and the Rev. Mr. Gilbert. In MarcJi 
last she was induced to go to the house of Mrs. Carrollton, her 
aunt, where she was detained until her father was sent for ; and 
subsequently her father, acting nnder the advice of Father Doane 
of iSTewark, induced her to go to the House of the Good Shepherd 
in this city, under promise that if she didn't like it she needn't 
remain. After being thus induced to enter, the promise was bro- 
ken, and she was compelled to remain contrary to her wishes, &c. 

The whole history of the case was then drcum- 
stantially related : 

From the Evening Post — Editorial. 

The following facts were proved in one of our courts yesterday ; 
A girl of sixteen or seventeen years of age, who lived as a domes- 
tic with a private family in ISTewark, N. J., was recently taken by 
her father, against her will, and lodged in the House of the Good 
Shepherd, in this city, a Roman Catholic house of refuge for fallen 
women. 

This girl has no mother. Her father has brought her up in the 
Cathohc faith ; but she has, in his view, fallen from the true faith ; 
for she has become a pious and exemplary Methodist. There is no 
doubt she was li™g a life without reproach at the time of her 
arrest. 

She was brought before Judge Sutherland, at Supreme Court, 
Chambers, yesterday, on a writ of habeas corpus addressed to the 
keepers of the house in which she was detained. Their claim to 
her custody was under the authority of her father, who appeared 
in person, and in a coarse and profane way attempted to break 
down his daughter's character. He brought witnesses, decidedly 
the reverse of prepossessing in appearance, to testify to her shame 
and their own. But this effort to destroy her character utterly 
failed. 

Judge Sutherland spoke of the case with great hesitation, and 
plainly admitted that he had serious doubts whether he was doing 
right; but, not being satisfied that the facts justified him in taking 
the child from her father's custody, he gave her back to the 
^' House of the Good Shepherd." 



76 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

It was shown oq the trial that this House is to her a prison, in 
which other punishment is inflicted than confinement; and it is to 
be feared that the application of this Protestant girl for personal 
freedom, and for the protection by law of her conscience against 
violence, will not improve her situation there. 

Harpers' Weekly — Editorial. 

Let us have all the light possible upon the subject of the impris- 
onment of Mary Ann Smith. She is a girl of sixteen or seventeen 
years of age, who has lived as a domestic in the city of Newark, 
New Jersey. She has no mother, and her father has educated her j 
in the Roman Catholic faith. But she has become a Methodist, j 
and against her will has now been imprisoned in this city in a | 
Roman Catholic house of refuge for fallen women, called the House ' 
of the Good Shepherd. ' * * * * » 

This seems to be a case in which the moving cause of imprison- 
ment is a change of religions faith. If, indeed, the girl is dissolute, 
and the parent seeks her correction under the auspices of the 
church which he prefers, and she consents, nobody will object. 
But a prostitute desiring to reform may choose her place of de- 
tention, whether Protestant or Roman. But if a girl is being 
punished for preferring the Methodist to the Roman faith it is a 
matter of the profoundest public concern. It is a most shameless 
outrage, and the fact that an unsuccessful effort has been made to 
remedy it will but aggravate the girl's suffering. The Roman 
Church here as elsewhere will get all it can. Its steady effort to 
secure a separate share of the school money ; the proposal in the 
last Legislature to appropriate money for the support of the secta- 
rian schools of that Church ; the municipal partiality for it at 
the City Hall, all show a disposition to foster it, of which the 
Church is fully conscious, and which it will not fail to improve to 
the utmost. It is most unfortunate that the law does not furnish 
an opportunity for an immediate and conclusive investigation of 
this case. If the girl is illegally detained she must, so far as ap- 
pears, continue to be the victim of injustice until the General Term 
of the Supreme Court in November. Should thejudgment of that court 
be unfavorable the case will be carried up to the Court of Appeals. 

f 

The Evening Journal of Jersey City spoke out re- 
peatedly, and with great force and clearness. In one 
of its elaborate editorials it said : 

IN PRISON FOR CONSCIENCE' SAIOl. 
If there be one thing more than another which this government 
and this nation is solemnly bound by its genius, its traditions, and 
its laws to guarantee and protect, it is the unrestricted ]iber:y of 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 77 

conscience — ^the absolute, uuquestioned right of every human being 
to choose his or her religion and religious associations ; yet, with- 
in the last few days, this most sacred right has been most flagrantly 
infringed on and violated in New Jersey and New York, and, we 
shame to say it, with the sanction of the courts of the latter State. 
To-day, Mary Ann Smith, a girl not yet seventeen years of age, a 
member of a class on probation in a Methodist Church, in Newark, 
is restrained of her personal liberty, imprisoned behind the iron 
gratings of a Eoman Catholic institution in New York city, against 
her own wish and will, in violation of her religious convictions, 
and in defiance of her clear rights under the law. 

We have, up to this time, made no comment on this atrocious 
case of oppression, because we desired to know the facts, inde- 
pendently of newspaper rumors, and the statements of interested 
parties. We have taken the trouble to read through carefully all 
the testimony taken in this case, and now are prepared to present 
the case to the public. 

Judging solely from the sworn evidence on both sides, we now 
say, that the decoying of Mary Ann Smith into the House of the 
Good Shepherd, a Eoman Catholic institution, her forcible deten- 
tion therein, the means resorted to keep her there, the attempts 
made to blacken and destroy her character, and the decision of 
Judge Sutherland, remanding her to the prison from which she 
has in vain sought to escape, form one of the blackest chapters of 
persecution for conscience' sake, of priestly deception and tyranny, 
of baseness and cruelty engendered by religious fanaticism and ser- 
vility, and of the power of the Eoman Catholic church to pervert 
the law to its own sinister purposes, that has ever been recorded. 
What are the facts ? The reader will please observe that all the 
statements we make are drawn from the sworn evidence in the 
case ; the testimony is in our possession, and can be examined by 
any one desiring to see it. 

Mary Ann Smith, daughter of an Irishman, James Smith, of 
Newark, who had been brought up in the communion of the Eo- 
m.an Catholic church, in January last renounced Eomanism, and, 
professing conversion, was received as a class-member of a Metho- 
dist church in Newark. There is no particle of evidence showing 



78 abductio:n" of mary ann smith 

that any undue influence was used on her to produce the change in 
her views, or, in fact, any influence at all, other than the ordinary 
preaching of the gospel at a series of revival meetings. Iler re- 
nunciation of Romanism was public, and was known to her father 
and other Roman Catholic relatives. Her mother had died five 
years ago, and since that time her father had made no provision 
for Mary Ann's support, though he had had the grace not to claim i) 

the wages which she earned while at service. She continued in 
her place as a servant in the family of a gentleman in Newark, and J 

regularly attended the Methodist church with which she had con- ^ 

nected herself, in all respects conducting herself, as numbers of 
respectable witnesses testify, in the most exemplary manner, and 
bearing the reputation of a virtuous, discreet, industrious girl. 
Suddenly Mary Ann Smith disappeared. She went out one day in 
March last and never returned to the house of her employer. For 
many weeks no trace of her whereabouts could be discovered* 
Finally the following facts transpired. That she had been decoyed 
by lying messages, sent to her by some of her Roman Catholic 
relatives, telling her that some relatives were sick, which was " 

wholly false, into the house of her aunt ; that there she was met by 
a Roman Catholic priest. Father Doane, and by her father, who 
importuned her to enter the House of the Good Shepherd in New 
York; she refused, but finally, under a solemn pledge, that if she 
would go and see the institution, and did not wish to enter it or 
to remain, she should be free to come away, she did go thither; 
that the moment she was inside the gates the key was turned, and 
permission to leave was denied her ; that in the House of the 
Good Shepherd she is classed with and compelled to daily and 
nightly associate with prostitutes, thieves, convicts from Black- 
well's Island, in fact with the worst female characters ; is fed on |^ 
poor food, compelled to work twelve hours a day, and is treated in 
all respects as a prisoner. There in this condition to-day is Mary 
Ann Smith, and the only reason is that she has renounced Roman 
Catholicism and prefers to be a Protestant and a Methodist. This 
is evident from the testimony of the girl herself, from that of her 
father, and that of the priest Doane. 

Now comes the other additional and far more atrocious chapter 



BY THE EOMAN CATHOLICS. 79 

of this history. The Methodist friends of the girl ascertaining hei 
whereabouts, succeeded in bringing her before the courts on a 
habeas corpus process and demanded her liberation. After the ex- 
amination had proceeded several days, and most of the facts here- 
inbefore stated had been disclosed, her persecutors took up a new 
line of defence of themselves, by attacking the character of Mary 
Ann, and attempting to prove that she was unchaste, and that her 
father had her placed in the House of the Good Shepherd in order 
to reform her and save her from a life of prostitution. Two fellows 
were procured, one of whom swore that he was a jail-bird and a 
libertine and generally a scoundrel, and the other was apparently 
of the same sort, who swore that they had personal knowledge of 
Mary Ann's unchastity. One of these rascals, the one on whose 
testimony this girl's persecutors relied, was compelled to admit 
that he gave his testimony in obedience to the request of the priest 
Doane. 

We read carefully every word of the testimony of those two fel- 
lows, and have no hesitation in saying that it shows on its face de- 
liberate perjury, and that any intelligent juryman, after listening to 
such testimony, would not only discredit it as utterly unworthy of 
belief, but would feel it to be his duty to bring these witnesses be- 
fore a grand jury and have them indicted for false swearing — and 
nothing more would be needed to convict them than the concocted 
story which they told. 

This conspiracy to swear away the good name of this poor girl, 
and to afford a pretext for her father's interference, is the most 
utterly fiendish that could be imagined. The girl herself modestly 
but indignantly denies under oath every accusation, and to show 
her sincerity consented, nay begged for an examination by compe- 
tent medical men, in order to prove that these witnesses were ly- 
ing. Why was not her request granted ? Yet Judge Sutherland, 
who took the case out of Judge Ingraham's hands, on account of 
the illness of the latter, has sent this girl back to the den of pros- 
titutes from which she begs to be released. He said the case was 
one of much donbt, and he gave his decision in favor of the priests 
and the unnatural father and against the girl. Judges who make 
such unrighteous and weak decisions ought not to escape criti- 
cism. 



80 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

What sort of a father is James Smith, to have the custody of a 
daughter, when he confessedly has left her to take care of herself, 
and only shows any anxiety about her when she turns Protestant? 
What sort of a man is he to have the liberty of his daughter de- 
pendent on his word, when he sits calmly by and connives at the 
villany of profligates who swear away her virtue and seek to make 
her infamous ? Had he been half a man he would have throttled 
those lying witnesses where they stood blackening his child's char- 
acter. 

The contemplation of the atrocious features of this case is too 
much for human patience. What sort of a place is the House of 
the Good Shepherd for an innocent girl, filled as it is with the 
vilest characters to be found in the lower strata of New York de- 
bauchery? We would give the "Sisters" who seek to reform the 
vicious, and reclaim the erring, all praise for their benevolent and 
Christian efforts ; but what right have they to put along with these 
objects of their reformatory labors and keep behind prison bars an 
innocent and persecuted girl, because she has seen fit to renounce 
Eomanism and join a Methodist church ? A Judge, put in his 
place by the votes of Eoman Catholics, may wrest the law and 
turn the "doubt" to oppression's side temporarily. But we are 
sure that the public generally will agree with us, that such a use 
of the power of any church as has been made in the case of Mary 
Ann Smith, to coerce her back to Romanism, is an unmitigated 
outrage, a wrong that must be redressed. The real friends of 
Mary Ann Smith must not let her case rest as it is now. Mean- 
while, after what has been developed, is it too much to say that it 
may well be doubted whether the chastity of the life of this girl is 
safe where she now is ? 

The Jersey City Times was also outspoken and em- 
phatic upon the subject. In one of its issues it said : 

A Eeligious Outeage. — When, a few years ago, the Pope stole 
from a Jewish ftiraily, in Eome, the boy Mortara, immured him in 
a convent and brought him up as a priest, it was hoped that the 
indignant protest which rang through the civilized world would 



BY THE KOMAN CATHOLICS. 81 

have prevented the recurrence of such an enormity. That there 
was really very little reason for such an expectation, was shown by 
the fact, that notwithstanding the outcry raised against him, the 
Pope stnck to his prisoner and refused to surrender him, the boy 
of less than ten years of age, to his rightful guardians, his parents. 
The fact is, the spirit of bigotry and persecution dies hard, and that 
it has yet by no means given up the ghost, is shown by the case of 
Mary Ann Smith, who, in free America, has been imprisoned for 
conscience' sake, and whose application for a writ of habeas corpus^ 
and its subsequent denial has been before the Courts of New York. 
The facts of the case are fully spread before our readers in the ser- 
mon of Dr. Mattison, published by us yesterday, and if we have be- 
fore refrained from any remarks on the facts of this remarkable 
case, it has been because we were unwilling to prejudge it by hasty 
comment on isolated facts, as they appeared from time to time in 
the li^ewark papers. IsTow, however, one phase of the judicial in- 
quiry is ended, the facts are all in evidence, and the season for longer 
reticence no longer exists. As they were developed in Court, they 
are fairly recounted by Dr. Mattison, and may be summed up as 
follows: A girl of blameless life, forsakes the Catholic faith in 
which she has been born, and becomes a member of a Methodist 
Church. Hereupon her drunken and degraded father, who has in 
no way taken care of her for years, sets up a claim to control her 
actions, induces her by trickery to enter the House of the Good 
Shepherd in l^ew York, and there, under his directions, she has 
since been held a prisoner, and the writ of habeas corpus^ granted 
at the request of her Protestant friends, been discharged by Judge 
Sutherland, who, however, expressed very great doubts of the pro- 
priety of his action. In the conflict of opinion, the Judge, how- 
ever, seems to have thought it incumbent on him to lean rather to 
the side of parental authority than the right of personal and reli- 
gious liberty. This, too, when the girl's father was self-convicted 
of the inconceivable vileness of attempting to destroy her reputa- 
tion by producing witnesses who swore to having had criminal in- 
tercourse with her. It was no true religious feeling which prompted 
this effort on the part of parent, priest or superior, to destroy this 
girl's character, and the baseness of the effort is characteristic of 



82 ABDUCTION OF MAKY ANN SMITH 

the whole affair, and the fact that the girl's father could he a party 
to sucli a proceeding should have decided the Judge at once that 
he was no fit person to be the custodian of, or even to control the 
movements, of his daughter. We are glad to know that the case 
is to be taken to a higher court, and that we are to have the opin- 
ion of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York as to whether 
it is such offence for a Eoman Catholic girl to turn Protestant as 
justifies her being incarcerated with female thieves and prostitutes. 
Without desiring to raise the least prejudice against our Eoman 
Catholic fellow-citizens, this case plainly shows that we cannot be 
too jealous of the assumptions of priestly power, and the assertion 
of special claims of institutions like the House of the Good Shep- 
herd, or the numerous nunneries springing up all over the country, 
to control and restrain the movements of their inmates. Let the 
right of such establishments to retain the custody of any of their 
inmates, be strictly limited to those who have been sent there un- 
der a conviction in a court of justice, all others to be treated as 
voluntary inmates only, free to go and come as they please, and all 
bequests or gifts of property made in such places to be absolutely 
null and void. Every country in Europe has had a great fight 
with such establishments. We shall be saved much trouble if we 
exercise a little vigilance at the outset 



CHAPTER XL 

A New Development— Mary Anil a Devout Catholic (?). 

On the 22d of August the following appeared in the 
New York Tablet, a leading Eoman Catholic paper : 

Mary Ann Smitli. 

" We understaud that the girl, whose case has acquired consider- 
able notoriety in the public prints, owing to the attempt, on the 
part of a Methodist minister in Newark, to remove her from a 
])lace where her father had placed her, and who, unfortunately, by 
her conduct and language in the court, did all she could to assist 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 83 

him in his attempt, has, since she was remanded to the House of 
the Good Shepherd, regretted her conduct, and now desires to do 
what is right in every respect. She assisted at the Betreat which 
was given in that institution in July, and approached the Holy Sac- 
raments. She has since written a letter to her father, which she 
requested him to show to her Methodist friends, asking them to 
cease all proceedings in the matter, that she is a Catholic, and 
wishes to remain one. 

" They, however, paid no heed to her request, and are putting 
her parents and friends to additional trouble by further litigation. 
The other day they went so far as to take up a collection at the 
Camp Meeting in Sing Sing, to pay the legal expenses. Have they 
no young girls of their own going astray that requires attention, 
that they must needs try to steal a lamb from the Catholic fold ? 
If Mary Ann Smith is now let alone, and ceases to be the object of 
notoriety which she has been, and which has had a dangerous in- 
fluence upon her, and remains for a while longer with the excellent 
Sisters of the Good Shepherd, there is a good chance of her turn- 
ing out a prudent and well behaved girl. She is learning a trade, 
and is happy and contented. Under these circumstances we think 
the Methodists might as well draw off their forces, and not waste 
their strength in a hopeless undertaking." 

The same day the following appeared in the Neioarh 
Daily Advertiser^ it having been furnished for its col- 
umns by Mr. Doane : 

YoEKYiLLE, August 1, 1868. ) 
Convent of the Good Shepherd. ) 

Very Reverend Father: 

Please excuse the liberty I take in writing to you. Be so kincl. 
Rev. Father, as to put a stop to my trial, as I consider there is but 
one true religion, and in that I mean to live and hope to die. I 
confess myself a Catholic now, and I hope forever. Rev. Father, 
the Religious here are very kind to me. I am happy, and as I 
have but one soul I shall try and not lose it. Be so kind as to tell 
my father to send my trunk and all my clothes. Rev. Father, if it 
is not too much trouble, I should like to see you. 

I feel as though I shall never leave here. I have a great desire 
to become a Magdalen. I trust after a little while the dear and 
honored mother who has charge of my spiritual and temporal wel- 
fare will think fit to send me to that holy Retreat of retirement 
and prayer. 

Rev. Father, I most humbly beg your prayers, hoping that our 
Divine Lord may be graciously pleased to place me in that situa- 
tion in life wherein I may serve him be^t. We have had a Retreat 



84 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

here, and I am so happy since that I would not, to gain a crown, 
leave here. During that holy time, 1 have had the very great hap- 
piness of receiving the body and blood of my Divine Lord. So 
now, Eev. Father, you know that I am happy, and sliaU conclude 
by remaining, 

Your respectfully and penitent child, 

Mary Ann Smith. 

Eev. Father, I had nearly forgot to mention that I had received 
a valise with my name. The articles it contains I do not claim as 
mine. You will, therefore, Eev. Father, be so kind as to ask my 
father if he has sent such articles here. m. a. s. 

In republishing this letter, the Jersey City Times 
said : 

It would not, perhaps, be considered a courteous proceeding to 
call a reverend priest a liar and a forger, but tbe letter purporting 
to have been written by Mary Ann Smith, which was published in 
our columns on Thursday, if it does not create suspicions of for- 
gery and falsehood, does certainly excite an apprehension that the 
letter was produced under influeoces not the most honorable. A 
set of men who believe that the end always justifies the means, and 
who have already proved their faith in the principle by forcibly 
immuring an innocent girl in a prison, would not be likely to stop 
at a mild forgery, or to procure the girl's signature to a document 
by the appliances of threats or force. 

The letter published in the New York Tablet bears evident 
marks of a hand more skillful in the use of the pen than that of the 
imprisoned girl, who can neither read nor write ; and if the writer, 
who so accurately worded the epistle, did not give it publication 
without her actual signature, it is more than likely that she sub- 
scribed her name without a knowledge of its contents, or under 
influences of fear or force. Tbe request '' to put a stop to her trial," 
which is the principal point in the letter, will have but little weight 
with the men who have taken up her case. It will be answered 
by even more vigorous eflforts to liberate her from incarceration, 
and by a more forcible demand that the rights of all to freedom of 
opinion shall be respected. 

The Evenmg Journal oi Jersey City, whose editor had 
read all the testimony and well undertood the whole 
case, reprinted the letter, and accompanied it with the 
following pertinent observations : 

In the foregoing we have given our readers all that is accessible 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 85 

by us up to this time, and they must judge of the statements made. 
Our own clear conviction is, that the letter purporting to he signed 
by Mary Ann Smith is no work of hers. It bears in every line of 
it evidence of having been carefully prepared by some priestly 
hand. It is unquestionably a put-up job, and not very shrewdly 
put up at that. 

Now let Mary Ann Smith's Protestant friends insist, without de- 
lay, on seeing her, where she can, without intimidation or undue 
influence, tell the whole truth about this letter. It surely cannot 
be impossible to get such access to the poor girl as will insure the 
finding out of the exact truth. No such presentation of the case 
as is now made by the Tablet and Father Doane will ever satisfy 
any reasonable mind. The desperate and dastardly attempt made 
by hired jail-birds to swear away the character of this persecuted 
girl, will make all candid minds look with grave suspicion on any- 
thing in which Father Doane has a hand. The man who would 
stoop to the infamy of urging a conscienceless villain to swear that 
he had destroyed a young girl's virtue, must not expect the public 
to hold him incapable of manufacturing letters to which the same 
poor victim might be compelled to affix her signature. This Mary 
Ann Smith case looks to us darker than ever before, and it will be 
a gross and cruel wrong if the whole power of the law is not used 
to ferret out the whole truth of this business. 

" Carl Benson/' in the New York Times, oi August 
28th, says : 

Tlie Isiearcerated Girl Mary Ann ^mitli. 

To the Editor of tlie New Torh Times : 

Ever since that article from the Tablet appeared in your columns 
last week, I have been expecting that some notice would be taken of 
it, either editorially or by correspondents. Allow me to call your 
attention to two grave questions which it suggests : 

First — Of what value are the words or letters of this young 
woman under duress, and obliged by, no one knows (but we may 
shrewdly surmise) what, mental or physical influences to write 
whatever may be dictated to her ? Compare them with her protes- 
tations in open court when not acting under pressure. Can any 
candid and rational man hesitate as to which of the two are to be 
believed ? 

Secondly. — It is assumed by the young woman's father and the 
Tablet, that she was a " bad girl." In what her depravity con- 
sisted, beside wishing to be a Methodist, is not stated, nor is there 
before the public any proof of its existence, only the insinuations 
of persons with whom insinuations and even downright assertions 
are cheap, it being part of their system that the end justifies the 



86 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

means. Certainly it does seem rather cool to affirm of the Metho- 
dists — the largest denomination of Christians in the country, I be- 
lieve — that any person wishing to join their Church must neces- 
sarily be bad. Let us have the proof. Let these people tell the 
truth, if they know how and can be made to. Unless I am greatly 
mistaken, the public will expect something ftiore than the loose as- 
sertions and vague hints of persons whom it is not always quite safe 
to believe upon oath. 

Cakl Benson. 

Such were the frank and bold utterances of two 
secular editors, in the very neighborhood of the trans- 
action, and in the most ''Catholic" city in America. 
Though they make no pretensions to religion, yet, 
knowing all the facts as they did, they had too much 
conscience and courage to remain silent over such an 
outrage. But the Standard — a "Democratic" daily 
in the same city, run in the interest of rum and Ro- 
manism — published the extract from the Tahlet, and 
the pretended letter from Miss Smith, but refused to 
publish a word upon the other side. This, we suppose 
is Democratic gallantry and justice. 

The Neio York Examiner, a Baptist paper, had an 
editorial upon the subject, in which it said : 

In this N"ew York branch of the Inquisition this young Christian 
was imprisoned, forced to associate with women of the vilest life 
and character, and compelled to submit to such "reformatory" 
measures as the " holy father " and " sisters " of the institution 
deemed necessary for her restoration to the Eoman fold. * * 

It is said that the efforts of the girl's friends will not stop here, 
and we earnestly hope they may not. If there ever was an outrage 
upon religious freedom this is it. Austria herself makes fourteen 
the age of religious liberty from parental restraint, and if in 
America a young woman of sixteen is mature enough to have con- 
victions, she ought to be protected by the State in the unmolested 
enjoyment of them. 

Under the head of " The Inquisition in America,'' the 
Church Union, of New York, thus refers to the case : 



BY THE ROMAIC CATHOLICS. 87 

"We inquire not now, whether her faith was Jew, Turk or Chris- 
tian. We simply say that whatever it was, so long as no violation 
of good morals was involved, the child had just as much right to 
her religion as the parents to theirs, and any attempt to use paren- 
tal power to coerce or punish her choice, was an outrage upon tne 
natural rights of every human being, and in particular upon the 
constitution of our free country. 

After speaking of her persecution and imprisonment 
the writer proceeds : 

What means of intimidation and chastisement were used further 
to break her spirit and bend her to the purposes of her ^' instruct- 
ors," we cannot guess. It is known that there are such means as, 
in the case of a girl at or near the age of puberty, can reduce the 
strongest spirit to abject and slavish submission, moral or physical, 
to her master. * * * ^ result that might have been 
relied on with certainty — supposing the means were sufficiently 
unscrupulous — is before us. A letter purporting to be from the 
girl is just published, after some six months' incarceration, etc., 
if we mistake not, in which she begs to have a stop put to her 
atrial,"as she returns to the faith she had abjured. The letter is 
'' most piteous expression of a crushed spirit, exhibiting a dread of 
returning to the world and an anxious desire to find a final retreat 
in a Magdalen Institution. The significance of this sad wish, God 
knows, not we. May the true ''Good Shepherd" yet save his 
lamb at the last ! 

If she ever sanctions that letter, there is reason to 
believe that the above suspicions are well founded; 
but we do not believe she has the slightest idea of any 
such letter, even down to this hour. 

To the letter purporting to have come from Miss 
Smith, Eev. Mr. Gilbert, pastor of the young girl, 
and prosecutor in the case, made the following reply 
in the Advertiser of August 20th : 

liCtter from Rev. Mr. Gilbert. 

Mr. Editoe: — In last evening's "Daily" a letter is published 
claiming to come from Mary Ann Smith. As Miss Smith can 
neither read nor write, and according to Mr. Doane (the Kev. gen- 



88 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

tleman will excuse me if I decline using the term " Fatner." I do 
not find it ever in Scripture applied to a minister of the Lord Jesus. 
It is used in connection with the Devil, but as he is called the 
*' father of lies," I suppose this will hardly be quoted as a prece- 
dent,) has a mind of almost the lowest order, this letter is certainly 
a very remarkable production. Perhaps mingling with those by 
whom sbe is surrounded, street walkers, '^ disobedient children," 
etc., has produced so great a change. She begins with the request, 
" Be so kind, Kev. Father, as to put a stop to my trial." Were 
we in Rome or Spain, there would be no difficulty in putting a 
" stop " to anything that interfered with the designs of the Papacy. 
A Roman Catholic Alderman in Chicago thought that a "stop" 
could be put to Dr. Hatfield's preaching on the subject of Roman- 
ism, but found that the time had not yet come for such '' stops" in 
free America. 

Seriously, Mr. Editor, this letter, so faultless in grammar and 
style, could not have been composed and written by a poor girl 
who can neither read nor write. Mr. Doane will remember that 
once before he proclaimed through your columns that Mary Ann 
was pleased with her surroundings. We have her own testimony 
that she was not. "When we have the word of Miss Smith herself, 
from her own lips, that she has been reconverted to the Romish 
faith, and does not wish to leave the " House of the Good Shep- 
herd," we will stop proceedings, and not before. The Tablet says 
that Miss Smith wrote a letter to her father, desiring him to show 
it to her Methodist friends. Why has the letter not been shown to 
those who have charge of the legal proceedings in the case? 
"They, however," says the Tablet^ " paid no heed to her request." 
This is false, for no such request has been presented. "Is it 
honest ?" 

LuTnER. 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 89 



CHAPTEE XII. 

The Forged Letter OhaUenged— Correspondence with 

"Father Doane." 

Having seen the alleged recantation in the Newark 
papers, I immediately repaired to that city to inquire 
into the matter ; and on the 22d of August, not having 
seen the foregoing suggestion from the Evening Journal^ 
as to seeing Miss Smith, addressed the following let- 
ter to " Father Doane," through the columns of the 
paper in which the forged letter appeared : 

tietter to Fatlaer I^oaiie* 

Jeesey City, August 22, 1868. 
Eev. G. H. Doane : 

Dear Sie, — I notice in the papers a letter published by your 
direction, purporting to have been written by Miss Mary Ann 
Smith, in which she avows herself a Catholic, and contented and 
happy in her confinement, and that she wishes the suit for her re- 
lease abandoned that she may become a Magdalen, etc. E"ow 
everybody knows that a conversion or reclamation effected by im- 
prisonment, hard fare, and hard labor, with despair of release, is 
just as valid as a note of hand or a bequest procured under duress, 
and no more so. Even if she wrote the letter, it is of no account, 
since it was wrung from her by the discipline of the Inquisition. 
But waiving all that, as a party interested in her release, and as you 
have published the letter, I address you through the same medium 
to say, that if Miss Smith wrote or dictated that letter, and the 
facts are as therein represented, I am willing for one to discontinue 
the suit. But I doubt the genuineness of the letter ; or, if it is 
genuine, believe it has been procured by threats or bribery, or in 



90 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

consequence of her despair of ever being released. Besides, as the 
poor girl can neither read nor write, it would be an easy thing to 
deceive her, and get her consent to the letter, when read differ- 
ently from what it really is. In a word, I believe the whole thing 
a forgery, an outrage upon the unappy prisoner, and an insult to 
the public. My reasons for this opinion are these : 

I. Miss Smith gave evidence of genuine conversion to Christ, and 
of the existence of a principle of devotion to Him which would not 
be easily shaken by bonds and imprisonment. 

II. After having been in your " religious institution " — (such you 
declare it to be in your first published letter, which you swore in 
court was true, although the State of New York pays twenty-five 
thousand dollars a year to sustain it,* and your " Mother Superior " 
swore in court that it was not a religious institution) — after having 
been in this Bastile three months, working twelve hours a day, and 
subsisting mainly on mush and stale bread and molasses, she was 
as firm as she was the day you sent her there, in her adherence to 
the true faith of Christ ; and so declared in court and to yourself 
and the nuns who surrounded her. 

III. After the decision remanding her back, I heard her say to 
the "Reverend Mother," as you style her, ''Well, Mother, you 
may confine me, and starve me, as long as you please, but / shall 
never renounce my religion^ I have seen enough of the Eoman Cath- 
olicsy This last remark had reference to the false witnesses pro- 
cured to prove her a prostitute. The last we heard from her, 
therefore, even after the decision against her, she was as firm as at 

^ In 1867 it was $5,000, and in 1868 $25,000. We 
state this upon the most rehable authority, and can 
verify it by public records. On the 10th of September, 
1868, the Board of Supervisors for the city and county 
of New York, appropriated $15,000 more to the same 
institution, making $40,000 this year. All this while 
the case of Miss Smith is pending in court, as a defi- 
ance to the Protestants of the city, and to help con- 
solidate the Catholic vote in the presidential election. 



BY THE ROMA]^ CATHOLICS. 91 

any other time. I told her not to despair — that she had friends 
outside, and that she might yet hope to he released, to which the 
old " Mother" snapped out with a vengeance, "Yes, get out and go 
to hell!" 

J^ow, with all this before us, we are asked to abandon the suit 
for her release, upon the evidence of such a letter, procured from 
her if at all, we know not when, or how, or by whom, and without 
our seeing or communicating with her in any way ! Surely, sir, you 
must think us and the public a set of fools to be caught by any such 
chaff. 

But I have further evidence that the pretended letter is a for- 
gery. 

IV. I went yesterday, in company with Rev. Mr. Gilbert, to see 
the father of Mary Ann — ^told him I wished to talk with him in a 
friendly way about the case, and that if Mary Ann really desired to 
stay in the nunnery, we would withdraw the suit. I then proposed 
to him to go with us to the institution to-day, promising that if 
Mary Ann said in our presence that of her own free wall and ac- 
cord she preferred to remain where she was, we would drop the 
suit. Instead, however, of accepting this reasonable proposition, 
and thus settling the matter forever, he flew into a passion, and 
turning to Mr. Gilbert, said, ''You are the prosecutor, are you?" 
I answered, "He is." "Well," said he, "I'll pursue you till yer 
heart's blood!" I said to him mildly, "0, don't talk of heart's 
blood ;" to which he replied, " Yes I wiU, and Fm the very mon 
for it." Upon this we left ; from all of which I infer that the 
father Icnows the whole thing to be a fraud, and was maddened by 
the proposition which he knew would expose the whole plot. If 
Mary Ann dictated the letter, and desires to remain where she is, 
why should her father fear to have her see us, and tell us her 
wishes face to face ? 

Y. Some days since Mr. Smith visited Mrs. Fitzgerald, with this 
letter, or another purporting to have been written by Miss Smith, 
and urged Mrs. Fitzgerald to do what she could to stop the suit. 
Mrs. F. promised to do so, in case Mary Ann desired it ; and as she 
had seen her once in the institution, under a permit graciously 
granted to her by yourself, and when there the ladies in charge 



92 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

had invited her to come again, assuring her that no new permit 
would be necessary, she concluded to go and see Mary Ann for 
herself. Accordingly, she went yesterday with her husband, and 
after encountering all kinds of excuses and pretexts for an hour 
and a half, was finally refused permission to see her, on the ground 
that to see Mrs. Fitzgerald might disturb her tranquility, or make 
her discontented. Hero is a fijth proof that the pretended let- 
ter is a fraud. They dare not let Mary Ann see any Protestant, 
because they know that she would expose and denounce tho 
whole plot. 

These, sir, are my reasons for believing the whole affair to be 
but a '' pious fraud," got up to deceive us and the public — an affair 
in which no honest man, and especially no professed minister of 
Christ, should knowingly participate. 

Your favorite organ, the New York Tablet^ says : " In God's 
name let the matter be again thoroughly examined — let there be 
light." We Protestants all say Amen ; let the truth come out, hit 
where it may. And we are resolved that it 8hall come out. And 
v/e are not going to be fooled by so transparent a ruse as the pre- 
tended letter from Miss Smith. And now, sir, to settle the whole 
matter in a day, and have an end of it, I make you this proposi- 
tion: 

On Tuesday next, August 25th, at ten o'clock a. m., you shall 
meet Eev. Mr. Gilbert, Eev. Dr. Poor of your city. Gen. Runyon, 
Mrs. Fitzgerald and myself, or such of us as can attend, at the 
House of the Good Shepherd, on Eighty-ninth street, near East 
River, New York, and procure for us an unrestricted interview 
with Miss Smith. I will read the pretended letter to her, and 
question her as I think best as to the whole affair. The questions 
and answers shall be written down, and signed by all of us, and 
published the next day in the Daily Advertiser ; and though Miss 
Smith is thus confined, and in the hands of her enemies, and would 
be liable to punishment and perhaps death if she testified against 
you, nevertheless, if she tells us that she dictated that letter of her 
own free will, and that she wishes to remain where she is, the suit 
shall be withdrawn, and there the whole matter shall end. Tlie 
public can then judge from her own words, printed in these col- 



BY THE ROMAJS" CATHOLICS. 93 

umns ; and if the facts are as the letter afSrms, both yourself and 
your cause will thus far be fully vindicated. 

I^ow, sir, let there be no evasions or equivocations about the 
matter. Let us see Mary Ann together, and see whether the let- 
ter is genuine, or a shameless forgery. 

Your obedient servant, 

H. Mattison. 

In republishing this letter, the Evening Journal of 
Jersey City said : 

The Newark Advertiser of Saturday publishes the following let- 
ter from Rev. Dr. Mattison of this city, to Rev. Father G. H. Doane 
of ISTewark. It requires no comment. But if Father Doane does 
not accede to Dr. Mattison's fair and reasonable proposal, there 
will be much comment and something else. 

In answer to my fair and reasonable proposition, 
Mr. Doane published the following sweet-spirited and 
manly reply, in the next issue of the Advertiser : 

I>r. Mattis©n'§ iRaillsig Accu§ation, 

Me. Editoe — Dr. Mattison must feel better. For some time he 
has been running around the ecclesiastical arena looking for an an- 
tagonist. Were he of Celtic origin I should say he was '' spoiling 
for a fight." Last year he publicly invited me to hear him show 
his ignorance and prejudice on a subject upon which I need no in- 
struction from him. This summer he boldly attacked the Catholics 
in Chicago, but for some reason or other he retired from the field 
when their champion appeared. And now he has delivered him- 
self of a direct violent and personal attack upon me. I am sorry to 
disappoint him, but I cannot recognize his right to interfere in the 
matter on which he writes, nor hold any controversy with him on 
this or any other subject. 

With regard to the letter which he charges with being a forgery, 
I can only say that I received it through the post, and that it gave 
me great pleasure as indicating a happy change in the girFs spirit- 



94 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

ual and moral condition ; that I answered it, expressing my gratifi- 
cation, and urging her to persevere ; that in a few days, as I had 
been requested, I went to see the child, and that she confirmed by 
word of mouth what she said to me in the letter written for her by 
one of the sisters,* and that being in your office last Tuesday I 
showed yon the letter, and you asked leave to publish it. This is 
the simple history of the letter. It was not even written for pub- 
lication, and only accidentally some three weeks after its receipt 
saw the light. 

Dr. Mattison winds up his letter with a proposition for me to 
meet him and his colleague, Mr. Gilbert, Dr. Poor, Gen. Runyou, 
etc., at the House of the Good Shepherd, next Tuesday, August 
25th, at ten o'clock, to examine into the question as to whether that 
letter was a forgery or no. Were this a personal question entirely, 
I would not allow my truth and honesty to be doubted by submit- 
ting the matter to a mixed commission, but as it is, to a certain 
extent, one of general interest, for the sake of truth, and waiving 
my own feelings, I am willing to meet, not him, nor Mr. Gilbert, 
for I have too much self-respect to associate with persons who make 
such reckless charges, and too much regard for the sisters to ask 
them to admit into their houset those who suppose them capable of 
such conduct as they have attributed to them, but Dr. Poor, Gen. 
Runyon, or any other gentleman, any day that suits their conve- 
nience, ask the sisters to show them the Institution from top to 
bottom, see Mary Ann Smith, the poor unhappy incarcerated girl, 
and they can publish the result of their visit as they see fit. 

As the name of the Bev. Mother has been mentioned in the let- 
ter, and in the New York papers at the time of the trial, I would 
simply say that she was not in Court at all. Mary Ann was accom- 
panied by a lay sister who attends to the out-door work, and who 
must have lost her patience from the remark that is attributed to 
her at listening to the poor girl's falsehoods and misrepresentations, 

^ Mark Mr. Doane is careful not to say that Mary 

Ann said she dictated the letter or had any knowledge 

of it. 

t It is '^ their house" is it ? 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 95 

and at the loss of time to which she was subjected by her frequent 
journej^s to the court, caused by the interference of these persons. 

A simpler explanation than the existence of a plot which he 
wished to conceal might be given to the angry remarks of the justly 
incensed father in the presence of those who had tried to steal his 
child from him. I am only glad, for his take, that there was noth- 
ing more than an angry word. Were he a man of means these 
persons would not have dared to approach him as they did. A 
summary ejection would have been the consequence. They think 
to take advantage of his poverty, and humble position in society, 
to trample on his rights, but they will find that there are those who 
will make his poverty and his humble position respected. 

Were the case the opposite of what it is, and w^re Mary Ann a 
Methodist girl, under age, who had fallen under Catholic influence, 
and been removed by her friends from it, for that and other 
causes, what would be said of a Catholic priest, or Catholic friends, 
who sought to see her and interfere ? Would such a thing be tol- 
erated in that instance ? Why is it in this ? 

1 have done with Dr. Mattison. I have tried not to answer rail- 
ing for railing, though under great provocation. It is not for me 
to judge, but I can only say to him, as did St. Michael, the Arch- 
angel, when, contending with the devil, he disputed about the body 
of Moses, *' The Lord rebuke thee." 

G. H. DOANE. 

Newaek, August 24th, 1868. 

In publishing this letter, the Evening Journal^ of 
Jersey City, accompanied it by the following editorial 
comments : 

The offensive personalities of the writer of the foregoing, and 
his obvious annoyance and ill-temper, contrasting as they do with 
the straightforward, manly proposal of Dr. Mattison, cannot fail to 
make on every candid mind a strong impression that Father Doane 
is in the wrong in this business, and that he knows he is. Dr. 
Mattison's reputation as a scholar, a clergyman and a gentleman, 
is quite as well established and as widely known as that of Father 
Doane, and the latter's expressions of contempt are evidence only 



96 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

of an affectation of ignorance, or of that impertinence which 
marks assumptions of superiority in those who have no just claims 
to it. They do not at all affect the merits of the matter in contro- 
versy. As to Dr. Mattison's retiring from the Chicago controversy 
last spring, it is well known to the public, and to Father Doane too, 
that it was the Catholic ciiampion who made the attack, and that 
it was he, and not Dr. Mattison, who ignominiously retired from 
the field. In a matter of history so recent and so notorious, Father 
Doane should be more accurate if he wishes the public to place any 
reliance on any statement which he may make. Father Doane is 
careful not to deny that the letter, purporting to be the production 
of Mary Ann Smith, is a forgery. He says he " received it through 
the post." "Why not? That was easy enough if it had been ten 
times a forgery. The real point is, did the girl herself either 
write or dictate any such letter, or does she now assent to what is 
therein contained? This is what Dr. Mattison and the public wish 
to know, and not by what means it reached Father Doane. And 
we cannot help suggesting to Father Doane, if as he says, the letter 
was not written for publication, that it is most unfortunate for him 
that it ever did see ''the light." The air of injured innocence 
which Father Doane puts on both for himself and the managers of 
the institution where the girl is confined, will avail nothing with 
the public. Father Doane and the Catholic sisterhood may tell us 
that they will not allow their truth and honesty to be doubted, but 
they will find that a candid public will doubt both, if they persist 
in their present course of conduct. Father Doane's sneers about 
" Mary Ann Smith, the poor, unhappy, incarcerated girl," and his 
cruel repetition of the charge of -'the poor girl's falsehoods and 
misrepresentations," indicate that he has as little heart as he has 
good judgment or command of his temper. 

Seeing from this evasive, untruthful and insulting 
letter, that what I had heard of him before was true — 
namely, that Mr. Doane is not only a man of small calibre, 
but is quite reckless as to his statements — and seeing 
also, that he was disposed to divert attention from the 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 97 

matter in hand by provoking a personal altercation, I 
at once responded to his epistle through the same me- 
dium, correcting some of the falsehoods of the letter, 
in the following straightforward and emphatic man- 
ner : 

I>r. Mattison to " Fatiier I>oane." 

Jeesey City, Angnst 24, 1868. 
Rev. G. H. Do AXE — 

Deae Sie : — Your response to my letter is abont what I expect- 
ed. I had no idea that you would dare to have Rev. Mr. Gilbert, 
Mrs. Fitzgerald or myself — the parties who know most of the case, 
and have the best right to be satisfied — see Miss Smith, and ques- 
tion her as to the letter, and her present contentment and wishes. 
Notwithstanding all you have said now, for the second time, as to 
her happiness in her confinement, you dare not allow us to see her. 
You fear she might contradict you, as she did before under oath. 
For this reason alone you decline to have those persons see her, 
who, from their connection with the case, would be most likely to 
expose you and your devices. 

But I must notice a few things in your letter, point by point. 

1. You say: "For some time he has been running around the 
ecclesiastical arena, looking for an antagonist." This statement is 
without a shadow of foundation in truth. 

2. You say: ''Last year he publicly invited me to hear him 
show his ignorance and prejudice upon a subject which I need no 
instruction from him." I did invite you to a lecture ; but you had 
not sufficient courage to listen to the proof that Eomanism is dying 
throughout Europe. Perhaps you feared another sudden conver- 
sion, this time back to the religion of your fathers, which you so 
suddenly abandoned to become a Catholic priest. 

8. You say: ''This summer he boldly attacked the Catholics in 
Chicago, but for some reason or other he retired from the field 
when their champion appeared." ^N'ot a word of this is true. 
"Father Hecker" attacked Protestantism, and I answered him- 
and when " Pev. J. McMullen, D.D.," challenged Bishop Scott, or 



98 ABDUCTION OF MAKY ANK SMITH 

" any other gentleman, lay or cleric," to meet him in dehate, and, 
at the request of Bishop Scott, I accepted the challenge squarely — 
McMuUen ingloriously fled from the field. And so far from ''re- 
tiring from the field " am I, that I stand ready at any time to meet 
either Dr. McMullen or yourself in Newark or Chicago, to demon- 
strate before any audience that Roman Catholicism is at best but a 
corrupt form of Christianity. This offer, which I make to you 
publicly and in good faith, will, I hope, convince both the public 
and yourself that the fling about "retiring from the field" is not 
applicable to me, but to a blustering Eoman Catholic priest in 
Chicago. 

4. You complain of " a violent and personal attack upon your- 
self." When? Where? There was nothing of the kind in my 
letter, and the public know it. But you, who could advise that a 
young Methodist girl be abducted from her pleasant home, and 
locked up in a nunnery, begin to feel a want of pubhc sympathy 
with you in your efforts ; and so you cry " persecution," to start 
the emotions, Verily, sir, you are one of the injured innocents! 
How you have been assaulted and abused ! Ye who have tears to 
shed, prepare to shed them ! 

5. You "cannot recognize my right to interfere." It matters 
little to me what you do or do not recognize. But the public may 
know that I have been invited by those who had the case in charge, 
to assist in it ; and am as legitimately in the prosecution as you are 
in the defence. Please bear this in mind in future. 

6. Your assertions as to the latter may satisfy your partizans, 
but they fail to satisfy us and the public. You have been mistaken 
as to her contentment and happiness once since you locked her up, 
and you may be again. We prefer not to get our intelligence from 
Miss Smith through the man who ordered her imprisoned, and who 
claims that she has been reconverted by confinement in a nunnery. 
We remember the recantations of Galileo and Archbishop Cran- 
mer. 

7. As to your offer to go with Dr. Poor (who I understand is 
out of town) and General Runyon, who has no personal knowledge 
of the case, it is a mere evasion, and an offer which you knew 
could not be accepted, otherwise you would not have made it. 



BY THE EOMAN CATHOLICS. 99 

Rev. Mr. Gilbert, the prosecutor in the case, and myself and our 
lawyers, are the parties to investigate it, and not persons who 
have little knowledge of it. 

8. But you decline to go with Mr. Gilbert and myself, on the 
ground of " self respect!" Really, sir, I was not before aware of 
your exalted dignity I But knowing it now, I will reheve you 
from further embarrassment. Stay at home, sir, and nurse your 
dignity ; but send me a permit for General Runyon, Rev. Mr. Gil- 
bert, and myself, to visit Miss Smith without the presence of your 
Reverence, and thus the same end will be reached and your " self, 
respect " remain unsullied. By the way, let me advertise you here 
and now, that the time is not far distant when citizens of ]!Tew 
York will not be obliged to ask Roman Catholic priests for *' per- 
mits " to visit institutions that are supported from the State Trea- 
sury. 

9. Speaking of our visit to Mr. Smith you say, "I am only glad 
for his sake that there was nothing more than an angry word." 
That is to say, but for the legal consequences to Mr. Smith, you 
wish he had shed Mr. Gilbert's "heart's blood," as he threatened 
to do. Such, then, is your religion — smash the windows of Pro- 
testant churches, kidnap young Protestant girls, and then shed the 
" heart's blood " of those who wish to ascertain the truth as to a 
forged letter ! Really, sir, you are worse than Peter, your first 
Pope, who only lied and cursed and swore a little, and cut off the 
ear of Malchus, without shedding his ''heart's blood." » 

10. You say : " Were the case the opposite of what it is, and 
were Mary Ann a Methodist girl under age who had fallen under 
Catholic influence, and been removed by her friends from it, for 
that and other causes, what would be said of a Catholic priest, or 
Catholic friends, who sought to see her and interfere ?" This is a 
false presentation of the case. You have done more than remove 
Miss Smith from her chosen home and friends. You have im- 
prisoned her because she would not submit to your dictation and 
renounce the faith of Jesus. 'No Protestant ever did or ever will 
do such a thing. We believe in civil and religious liberty and the. 
rights of conscience. And we care not who abducts and imprisons 



100 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

another, whether a minor or an adult, for conscience' sake ; we 
will resist all such oppression by whomsoever perpetrated. 

You have a wonderful regard for the rights of parents all at 
once. How was it a few years ago when your Church stole young 
Mortara from his parents (a Jewish boy of seven years, who had 
been secretly baptized by a Catholic servant, when an infant) and 
kept him in spite of all they could do ? This is a case exactly in 
point, and the whole Catholic press and priesthood approved of the 
abduction. 

11. You "have done with Dr. Mattison." Not quite done, sir; 
or, if you are done with me, I am not yet done with you. Nor do 
v/e mean to be, till it is forever settled that no person, adult or 
minor, Jew, Turk, Mormon, Catholic, Protestant, or Infidel, shall 
be kidnapped and imprisoned, by father, priest, or Pope, or all 
combined, on account of their religious convictions. That is the 
issue we mean to try before this whole nation ; and unless you re- 
lease Mary Ann Smith — and all others now in confinement for their 
religious opinions, and recognize religious freedom and the rights 
of conscience, as the birthright of every American citizen, it will 
be some time before you and your church are '' done with Dr. Mat- 
tison.'' You may kill me, as your co-religionists have more than 
once threatened to do, but my blood would be a worse heritage 
to Popery than that of John Brown has been to slavery. 

Meanwhile, the suit for the liberation of Miss Smith must go on. 

Yery respectfully yours, 

n. MaTTIS02T. 

This is the last we have heard of '^ Father Doane." 
He has '' done with Doctor Mattison I" ij 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 101 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Present State of the Case, and Hopes for the Future. 

Upon the decision of Judge Sutherland, the girl was 
taken back to her prison-house, where, if not dead, or 
spirited away to some other similar place, she still re- 
mains. But the remarks in the bogus letter about her 
becoming a Magdalen, and going to a Magdalen re- 
treat, indicate a plot to remove her from New York. 
But the future may settle all these questions. 

NOTICE OF APPEAL. 

The following Notice of Appeal has just been served 
upon Doane's counsel : 

SUPKEME COURT. 

City and County of New YorTc^ ss: 

The People of the State of New Yoek, on the relation of Jesse 
S. Gilbert, against The Lady Superior, Reverend Mother, or 
other person having charge of the House of the Good Shep- 
herd. 

Gentlemen : 

Please take notice that the plaintiff appeals to the General Term 

af the Suprerae Court from the Order of the Special Term, entered 

herein on the 18th day of July, 1868, and from the whole of said 

Order. 

Dated July 15th, 1868. 

LoED & Se:idmoke, 

To ' Attys. for Appellant. 

T. O'CoxNOE, Esq., 

Atty. for Respondent,, 

Geo. W. Loed, 

Of Counsel, 
Chaeles a. Loew, 

Cleric Supreme Court, 



102 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

Since the appeal was taken to the General Term, E. 
L. Fancher, Esq., has been associated with Messrs. Lord 
and Skidmore, as counsel in the case. 

The General Term will commence in New York on 
the first Monday in November. Judges Barnaed, In- 
graham, and Cardozo, on the bench. 

"What the decision will be here, it is not possi- 
ble to predict ; though it is believed by those whose 
opinions upon such subjects are entitled to great re- 
spect, that this Court will reverse Judge Sutherland's 
decision, liberate th^ prisoner, and allow her to choose 
a guardian till she is eighteen. 

If we fail there, w^e shall go to the Court of Ap- 
peals, Albany, on the first Tuesday in January next. 
This Court consists of seven judges — one from each 
district — and will be presided over by Chief- Justice 
Hunt. The names and residences of the Judges are 
as follows : 

Hon. WAED HUNT, (Chief-Justice,) Utica, N. Y. 

'' CHAELES MASON, Hamilton, N. Y. 

" LEWIS B. WOODRUFF, New York City. 

" THOMAS W. CLEEKE, 

'' THEODOEE MILLEE, Hudson, N. Y. 

" WM. J. BACON, Utica, N. Y. 

" CHAELES C. DWIGHT, Auburn, N. Y. 

Whatever may be the result of this case, we propose 
to appeal to the next Legislature of New York, and to 
all friends of Eeligious Freedom and the rights of con- 
science throughout the State and country, for laws 
under which commissioners, or inspectors, appointed 



i 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 103 

by governor or otherwise, shall be authorized and 
required, (upon the oath of any reputable citizen that 
he believes that, in any specified monastery, nunnery, 
or school, there are persons restrained of their Uberty, 
who are legally entitled to freedom,) to visit such in- 
stitution, and ascertain whether or not such are the 
facts ; and in case they are, to liberate such prisoners. 

If we have inspectors of State prisons, etc., much 
more do we need inspectors of Eoman Catholic nun- 
neries and "schools." 

We Tcnoio that there are other Protestants imprisoned 
in New York for "changing their religion," and we 
believe that there are hundreds of nuns, in the three 
hundred nunneries in this country, who in an evil hour 
have " taken the veil," but have since bitterly repented 
the fatal step, and sigh for an opportunity to escape ; 
and that if once seen, and assured of freedom, and of 
fTotedion when liberated, if they desired them, would 
rejoice at the overture and go out by hundreds. This 
offer they should have, if need be, once a year in every 
nunnery in the land ; and Protestants should never 
rest till laws securing such freedom are enacted in 
every State in the Union. In fact they ought to be 
enacted by Congress, and enforced by all the power 
of the General Government. For every such instance 
of imprisonment, except upon conviction for crime, or 
by order of some judge, is an infraction of the Consti- 
tution of the United States. The Xlllth Article of 
the Constitution, sec. 1, says : 

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punish- 
ment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, 



104: ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

shall exist witliin the United States or any place subject to their 
jurisdiction. 

Of what "crime" lias Mary Ann Smith been " duly 
convicted?" By what order of any court of justice is 
she confined?" Why, then, is she imprisoned and 
kept at hard work, " involuntary servitude," at the bid- 
ding of a Catholic priest ? 

Still further, whatever may be the result of this 
struggle for the rights of conscience and religious lib- 
erty, at these earthly tribunals, the case will go to a 
Higher Court than'all — namely, to the judgment seat 
OF Chkist, where all persecutors will be confounded, 
and all false witnesses and oppressors will meet their 
deserved and irrevocable doom. When the millions 
who have bled or burned, or have been broken on the 
wheel or rack, or slaughtered in cold blood, in Eng- 
and, and Ireland, and France, and Spain, and the Ne- 
therlands, and in Eome, by the Papacy, shall stand be- 
fore God, and bear witness against their murderers, 
tlien will the persecutors and maligners of Mary Ann 
Smith appear also ; the secrets of the " House of the 
Good Shepherd" will be revealed; and all who have 
been concerned in this most infamous transaction, be 
covered with " shame and everlasting contempt." 

But we have hope of justice at last, even in this 
world, and for the following reasons : 

1. We believe God is ever on the side of the op- 
pressed, and that He will aid us in defending the in- 
nocent. Thus far. His hand has seemed to be with us 
at every step ; while every movement of the Inquisitors 
only made their cause look worse and worse. And so 
we believe it will bo to the end. 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 105 

2. There are several precedents already on record ; 
decisions which settle the principle of the rights of 
conscience, even for minors. For although we could 
have shown that James Smith had forfeited all right to 
the custody of his child, by neglecting to take care of 
her, etc., we chose to concede the question of custody, 
as we wished to test the naked question of the reli- 
gious rights of minors, upon its own merits. 

The following decisions, covering the same princi- 
ple, are already on record. 

(1.) It is said that Judge Ingraham, a few years ago, 
told an Irish Girl, whom her father was seeking to con- 
fine for changing her faith, that she was too large to 
be coerced in such a matter, and that she could go 
where she pleased. We have not the record of this 
case, but are assured by a New York pastor, who was 
present, that such are the facts. 

(2.) Jaimes Steel, Esq., of Huntington, Pa., sends us 
the following : 

I observed in The GJiristian Advocate^ a short time ago, a deci- 
sion of Judge Sutherland, of ISTew York, on a habeas corpus in the 
case of a Catholic girl who claimed to have the privilege of choos- 
ing what form of faith she should profess agreeably to the dictates 
of her own conscience, which privilege was denied by her father, 
claiming that lie had the sole power over his child's conscience, 
and to this his honor assented, saying that the case was a very dif- 
ficult one to decide, and therefore remanded her to the custody of 
her father, to be by him handed over to be incarcerated in the 
House of the Good Shepherd, or really delivering the lamb to the 
custody of the wolf. Our judges in Pennsylvania have not found 
any difficulty in deciding such matters, and in order that your judge 
may be somewhat enlightened, I give you two decisions on the 
subject taken from the Pennsylvania Law Journal^ and these are 
not all the cases : 



106 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANK SMITH 

ISTeither parent^ guardian nor master have the right to exercise 
any arbitrary control over an infant as to his religious principles. 
Commonwealth y&. Farley; 4,th Pennsylvania Law Journal, pcige 
896. Pai'sons, Justice. 

A father has no right to control or interfere with the rights of 
conscience of his minor child who has arrived at the age of discre- 
tion, in relation to the worship of Almighty God. Commonwealth 
vs. Sigman — Quarterly Sessions of Lehigh County, Pa. ; dd Penn- 
sylvania Law Journal, page 252. 

I hope this matter will he stirred up again, so that another deci- 
sion may he had in the case of this girl more in accordance with 
the dictates of common sense and religious liberty. 

James Steel. 

(3.) A similar case has recently been decided in Og- 
densbnrgh, N. Y., in which an Irish boj^, who had em- 
braced rehgion and united with the M. E. Church, was 
taken by an Irish constable, at the instigation of his mo- 
ther, and, without legal process, handcuffed and locked 
up. But on being brought out on habeas corpus, the 
judge ordered his release, and allowed him to chose a 
guardian. We hope to have all the particulars of this 
case in time for a future chapter. 

From all these considerations, and the far-reaching 
importance and justice of the case, we cannot believe 
that the Supreme Court, or Court of Appeals will settle 
it as the law, in this land of freedom, that any parent 
has a right to imprison or punish a minor over fourteen 
years, for his religious opinions. This is the great 
issue involved in this case ; and in its righteous settle- 
ment, not only every Protestant, of every name, but 
every Jew and Free Thinker in the land has an inte- 
rest. For if one may be thus imprisoned for conscience 
sake, so may another. 

As to expenses, though it may cost a thousand dol- 



fill 86 


201 00 


11 20 


20 00 


5 00 



BY THE K0MA2C CATHOLICS. 107 

lars to carry through the suit, we cheerfully take the 
responsibility, trusting to the Protestant public to sup- 
ply the means as they may be needed. Thus far our 
receipts have been as follows : 



From Camp-meeting at Northport, L. I. 

Sing Sing, N. Y. . 

Barnsboro,* N. J. . 
Loder & Co., New York (Volunteered). 
From an unknown friend, through Dr. Curry. 

Total . . . $349 06 



Of this sum, $189 50 have already been expended, 
leaving, at this date (September 15), $159 56 now in 
hand to carry on the suit. 

Of course we must have more money ; and if the 
reader desires to aid in the matter, he can inclose his 
donation to the writer, and it will be duly acknowl- 
edged, either through the religious papers or in the 
next edition of this pamphlet, or both. We depend 
mainly upon members of the M. E. Church to see this 
matter through, and if need be shall make a public ap- 
peal for funds through our religious journals ; but we 
prefer not to be obliged to issue any such public re- 
quest. Better that it be done silently and without 
special effort. And as the battle is being fought in 
the interests of all Protestantism, and of Religious 
Freedom for all, there is no reason why other Chris- 
tians, and men of no religious denomination, should 

* In this case no appeal was made for money. 



108 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

not aid in meeting the necessary expenses of the suit. 
We trust such will be the case. 

But we have been asked, " Suppose she has really 
recanted, and is willing to remain in the convent ?" 
We ansAver, so much the worse for Eomanism. She 
was firm and true while out of prison, and after she 
had been in it for months ; and if, after a month's 
effort to secure her freedom, finding herself still in 
bondage, she has given way to despair, or to worse in- 
fluences, the more execrable the " religion " (?) that 
will consummate such deeds. 

She has been told repeatedly, both by her father 
and by Doane, that if she would abjure her faith she 
should be set at liberty ; and she may possibly have 
resorted to a recantation to secure her freedom. And 
yet she is not liberated. And if she has recanted in 
her imprisonment, and with what other terrors before 
her God only knows, she has not been the first who has 
done so. Take the case of Archbishop Cranmer : 

" Lured by the promise not only of pardon but of royal favor, he 
was induced to sign six papers, by which he recanted his princi- 
I)les, and avowed his sorrow for having entertained them. In 
spite, however, of the promises made to him, he was brought to 
the stake, March 21, 1556. He had by this time recovered his 
firmness ; and he died with the utmost fortitude, holding in the 
flames till it was consumed the hand which had signed the recan- 
tation, and exclaiming, " This unworthy hand I this unworthy 
hand!" 

After Galileo, the Florentine philosopher and in- 
ventor of the telescope, had professed his belief in the 
earth's rotation upon its axis, he was twice prosecuted 
for heresy on that account by the Inquisition, sent to 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 109 

prison in 1615, and again in 1633. On both these oc- 
casions he was compelled to abjure his " heresy " or 
die. Here is his recantation : 

"I, Galileo, in the seventieth year of my age, on bended knees 
before your eminences [the cardinals and bishops], and touching 
with my hands the Holy Gospels, do abjure and curse and detest 
the doctrine of the earth's movement." 

But to what did the recantation amount ? As he 
rose from his knees, and walked forth into a haU, he 
stamped his foot and said, in a low tone, " it does move 
after all." And so it would be with Miss Smith, even 
if she had recanted. Set her free and she would defy 
the Inquisition and all its heresies. 

And what a system for converting men and women 
to a religious belief ! Think of it, American citizens ! 
Ye who breathe the free air of our native hills ! Think 
of buildings and stools for penitents, and grated in- 
closures, and unseen and unknown "discipline" or 
punishments, in this land, to force converted Roman- 
ists back to the " Mother of harlots !" In God's name 
we ask. Are such things to be tolerated in the United 
States? Is the Inquisition to be transplanted from 
Eome and Spain, to take root among our free institu- 
tions ? This case is the entering wedge — a test case, 
so far as the law is concerned. If the camel get his 
nose in, the neck and body will follow, and our reli- 
gious freedom be forever lost. And now is the time 
for successful resistance.. 



110 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

CHAPTEE XIV. 

Other Similar Oases of Abduction and Persecution. 

Although we might fill a volume with accounts of 
similar transactions in this and in other countries, we 
have not the space here. But a few additional in- 
stances, showing that such is the practice among Ro- 
man Catholics everywhere, will not be out of- place. 

1. The Case of Young Mortaea in 1858. 

In 1858, Edgar Mortara, a son of Jewish parents, 
residing in Bologna, Italy, was stolen from his parents 
by Eomish priests, and taken to Eome and kept there, 
in spite of all his parents could do, to be educated for 
a priest. The following is an account of the transac- 
tion, taken from the Civilta Catolica, published at 
Rome : 

" In the early part of last summer a Catholic servant, in the fam- 
ily of a ^Qw at Bologna, stated to an old woman that the youngest 
child of the Jew was sick and in danger of death. The old woman 
told her that in such circumstances it would be a beautiful and 
pious act to baptize the child. The servant replied that she had 
already baptized an older brother, six years before, when he was 
in danger of dying ; and that the child was then growing up a He- 
brew, notwithstanding his Christian baptism, and she should not 
again do a similar thing. The old woman, however, thought the 
affair of great consequence, and made it known to several others, 
till at last the story was related to the Holy Congregation at Rome. 
An inquiry was immediately ordered into the facts of the case ; and 
on the testimony of the servant, who said she had received insfruc- 



BY THE ROMAK CATHOLICS. Ill 

tion respecting the way of administering baptism from a certain 
grocer in Bologna, it was decided that there was a moral certainty 
that the boj had been baptized. The Holy Congregation then pro- 
ceeded by force to bring him to Eome, where he is now retained 
to be educated by the priesthood." 

Such, in brief, is the Eoman Catholic history of this 
child theft. The boy was then in his eighth year, and 
in spite of the tears and efforts of his bereft parents, 
and the remonstrances of the civilized world, was re- 
tained by the Eomish heirarchy, and for aught 
we know is with them to this day. In this case, the 
rights of father and mother were of no account with 
Popery. 

Now, let us see how the Eoman Catholics of this 
country looks upon the affair. In Broicnsons Quar- 
terly, then the great central organ of Eomanism in this 
country, we find the following : 

"The withdrawal of Edgar from parental custody, in order to se- 
cure his Christian education, was in virtue of an immemorial law 
of the Eoman States, grounded on religious principles, and on the 
Christian view of individual rights and duties. The fact that he 
had been baptized obliged him to receive instruction in Christian 
doctrines, and the fact of baptism having been administered by 
a domestic does not affect its validity, since although the office of 
baptism belongs to the bishops, priests and deacons of the church, 
every one can validly baptize by using the prescribed form of 
words, and making simultaneously the ablution. 

" The baptized infant, born according to the flesh of Israehte pa- 
rents, becomes a child of God, being born of water and of the 
Spirit. Without his knowledge he receives heavenly gifts, — with- 
out his consent he is subjected to the law of Christ and his Church, 
since the boon of regeneration is granted on this condition. This 
Is the teaching of the Catholic Church, as to all baptized infants, 
without regard to the religious faith, or the wishes of their parents. 



112 ABDUCTION OF MAKY ANN SMITH 

Without baptism the infant cannot enter into the kingdom of God, 
or partake of the glory of heaven." 

^' Our courts of law seem to acknowledge in them [parents] a 
religious guardianship over their children until these attain to full 
age ; but the ecclesiastical tribunals hold that the child is free from 
his earliest use of reason to submit his mind to God, without regard 
to the views or wishes of his parents, etc. He owes obedience to 
his parents in domestic discipline ; he must obey God in things 
divine." * 

Having stolen the child, and put him where none 
but Eomanists could see him, they claimed, as in the 
recent recantation (?) of Miss Smith, that he was a Eo- 
manist, and had the right to chose his own religion. 
So it is 



A sort of engagement, you see, 



That is binding on you, but not binding on me." 

" The ecclesiastical tribunals hold that the child is 
free from his earliest use of reason to submit his mind 
to God, without regard to the views or wishes of his 
parents ;" that is, if he become a Papist, but not if a 
Papist, and he chooses to become a Protestant. How 
exactly like Hecker's " Plea for Liberty of Conscience," 
which he defines as *' the right to embrace, profess, 
and practice the Catholic Religion. t And this is all 
the "liberty of conscience" that Romanism ever tol- 
erates. 

Upon the subject of baptism, and the right which it 
gives Popery to control those who have been baptized, 



* April, 1859, pp. 22G-231. 

t Catholic World for July> 1868, p. 1 of Number. 



BY THE KOMAlSr CATHOLICS. 113 

either by priest or servant-girl, Mr. Brownson thus 
speaks : 

Since by baptism the recipient is born again, and born a subject 
of Christ's kingdom, he may be compelled by force, when once 
baptized, and become one of the faithful, to keep the unity of the 
faith, and submit to the authority of the Church, as the natural- 
born subjects of a state may, if rebellious, be reduced to their civil 
allegiance by the strong hand of power, and, if need be, punished 
even with death for their treason."* 

But we must not pursue this narrative further. The 
extracts cited show, what no intelligent Roman Catho- 
lic would deny, that they claim the right to seize and 
by force restrain or punish any person who has been 
baptized by them, even by a servant girl, if they do not 
adhere to the Romish faith. And there is little doubt 
that hundreds of children of Protestants are secretly 
taken to Catholic priests by servant girls, and baptized 
by them, and their names put upon record, of which 
the parents have not the slightest knowledge or sus- 
picion. And in case of the death of said parents, such 
children would be claimed as Catholics, as was young 
Mortara ; and if they were heirs to any considerable 
amount of property, or belonged to influential families, 
the right to control them would be strongly con- 
tested.t 

^ Brownson's Beview, July, 1864, p. 267. 

f The extent to which. Popery carries this baptismal question is 
well illustrated in the case of Thad. Stevens, who was baptized by 
nuns after he was past all consciousness. The prize in this case was 
the prestige of his name as a prominent statesman, who died in the 
Romisb faith. 



114 ABDUCTION OF MAEY ANN SMITH 

II. Case of Dr. McKinley's Daughter, Louisville, 

Kentucky. 

Under the heading of " A Lawsuit for a Million," 
the Louisville (Ky.) Coitrier of August 28, 1868, con- 
tained the following remarkable editorial : 

One of the most extraordinary cases on record is now pending 
before Judge Bruce, in the Circuit Court. The facts connected 
therewith, so far as we have been able to gather them, are as fol- 
lows : 

Dr. Samuel E. McKinley, son of Judge McKinley, formerly 
Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, and United 
States Judge of this circuit, was residing and practicing his pro- 
fession at New Orleans when that city was captured by the Federal 
army. He was retained as surgeon for the Confederate sick, and 
was afterwards retained in the United States service. The doctor 
married a very wealthy heiress, a Miss Morrison, of Louisiana, by 
whom he has two children, one a boy named James, w^ho is now 
with him in St. Louis, and the other a little girl, E. J. Lyon 
McKinley, twelve years of age. His wife dying during the infancy 
of the girl, the doctor, in 1864, moved to New Albany, Indiana, 
taking with him his two children. About a year ago last winter he 
moved to tliis city, where he remained till some time in 1867, and 
becoming desirous of going back to New Orleans to look after his 
property, left his little daughter at the Ursuline Academy, a Cath- 
olic female school in this city, for education, sending her from 
time to time money to pay her expenses. Before or about the 
time of vacation, the Doctor having moved and established himself 
in St. Louis, requested Judge Taylor to send by Adams Express 
his little daughter to him, the Express Company agreeing to under- 
take the care and custody of the child. 

"When Judge Taylor applied for the child, the Superior of the 
academy objected to letting her go till her tuition should be fully 
paid. The doctor, on learning this, declared that he had sent by 
mail the fuU amount, and then came for her himself. His counsel 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 115 

advising him that the academy could not retain a lien on the child 
for their money, he sued out a writ of habeas corpus before his 
Honor Judge Bruce, and this case, as it happens, is the first brought 
before Judge Bruce since qualifying as our Circuit Judge. The 
Superior of the academy, answering the writ, stated that the girl 
was named Lizzie Brown ; that she was not the Doctor's daughter ; 
that she was fifteen years of age, and that the Doctor was drunken 
and unfit to control the child. This answer was yesterday ad- 
judged insuflScient, and the respondent was required to state the 
time and the means by which respondent obtained possession of 
the child; that a mere allegation that the Doctor was not her 
father was no ground for the respondent to retain her. 

While the Doctor was away, some two weeks ago, it seems that 
the Superior applied to the County Court to become her guardian, 
and exhibited, it is claimed, a printed envelope with the name of 
E. J. Lyon McKinley, in which her father had enclosed money to 
his daughter — this being the true name. It is also alleged he has 
letters from the Superior calling her his daughter, Lyon. 

It is further said that she has become a Catholic, contrary to her 
father's wishes, who is an Episcopalian, and that she will, at her 
grandfather's death, become the heiress of more than a million. 

The case coming up yesterday afternoon, and the parties not be- 
ing ready for trial on account of absent witnesses, it was continued 
till next Friday at nine o'clock, a. m. The Court ruled the answer 
of the respondent insufficient, and required her to be more ex- 
plicit. 

This trial will develop some of the strangest points of law and 
fact known to jurisprudence. 

Judge Jeff. Brown and Judge Taylor are attorneys for McKinley, 
and Judge Burnett and W. G-. Reasor for respondent. 

III. — Father Chiniquy and the Bishop of Chicago. 

There is, at St. Anne, III., one Father Chiniquy, 
formerly a Roman Catholic priest, but now indepen- 
dent of that hierarchy, and carrying on his religious 
affairs as he understands the Bible to direct. Of 



116 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

course Popery is making every possible effort to crush 
liim, and among other things, he is sued, or arrested, 
on one pretext or another, by the Bishop of Chicago, 
every now and then, or at least, was a few years since. 
In most of these cases Abraham Lincoln was his coun- 
sel. A correspondent of the Montreal Witness furnishes 
the following anecdote in regard to one of those cases : 

Mr. Obiniquy was prosecuted on a criminal charge, in connec- 
tion, I believe, with the church property at St. Anne, and employed, 
so far as he knew, tbe best counsel to defend himself; but he was 
informed by a frienrf that he must engage Lincoln or the other 
party would get him, and then his case would be desperate. He 
telegraphed to Lincoln, and waited in the office till he got his as- 
sent; and when leaving it, the other party was just coming to tele- 
graph for the services of the same redoubtable lawyer. Through 
the whole course of the long and harrassing suits that followed, 
Mr. Lincoln gave great attention to his case, manifested the most 
unwearied kindness, and finally brought him off triumphant ; and 
when Father Chiniquy asked him how much was to pay, he replied, 
by asking in return : " How much can you pay me, Mr. Chiniquy?" 
Mr. 0. replied that he intended, as soon as possible, to pay what- 
ever was right, and asked again what it was. The other lawyer he 
employed had charged $3,000, which Mr. Chiniquy believed to be 
no more than a fair remuneration for his labor ; but Mr. Lincoln, 
who had done even more, wrote out a note for $50, which he 
handed to Mr. Chiniquy to sign, asking him if that would do. Mr. 
Chiniquy said it was far too little, hut Mr. Lincoln replied that rich 
suitors would make up the difference to him. 

A DRAJklATIO SCENE. 

The denoument of the criminal trial, above alluded to, was of 
thrilling dramatic interest. Two w^itnesses swore point-blank 
against Mr. Chiniquy, and it was clear that he must be convicted 
next day, and, if convicted, sent to the penitentiary. This the re- 
porter of a leading Chicago paper telegraphed, and the news was 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 117 

at once published, as the trial excited much interest. A Eoman 
Catholic who had read the paragraph remarked to his wife, with 
satisfaction, that they were going to get rid of Chiniqny at last, 
and mentioned the news. *' She said if he is convicted on that tes- 
timony, it is false." " How do you know that ?" asked her husband. 
" Because I and another lady were visiting the niece of such a priest 
(naming him), and the door of his room was not quite close. He 
did not know we were there, and we overheard the whole bargain 
made with these two witnesses, that they were to swear so and so, 
and to get two hundred acres of land." " Can you swear to this ?" 
said her husband. " Certainly." " Can the other lady swear to 
it?" " Undoubtedly." The gentleman, though a Eoman Catholic, 
loved justice more than the priesthood, and started at once for the 
night train. He reached the place of trial about two o'clock in the 
morning, roused Mr. Lincoln, told him to telegraph for the wit- 
nesses he named; and Mr. Lincoln, after doing so, came to Mr. 
Chiniquy's room (who was spending the night on his knees) to tell 
him that he was all safe. 

IVhen these ladies appeared in Court, the priest asked what 
was their business, and if they were going to destroy him. They 
said they would have to tell the truth, but it was he who had de- 
stroyed himself. Thereupon there was a consultation, and the 
prosecution came into Court requesting leave to withdraw the 
charge, saying that further evidence had convinced them of its 
groundlessness, and offering to pay expenses and apologize to the 
accused. 

How forcibly this reminds one of the two witnesses 
procured by Father Doane, to swear away the charac- 
ter of Mary Ann Smith — men who were obliged to ad- 
mit that they had each served two terms apiece in 
prison. And yet upon such testimony a j^oung girl is 
to-day toihng in a Eoman CathoKc prison, on hard 
fare, and without pay, for abandoning Eomanism and 
becoming a Protestant. 

There are Eoman Catholics who are honorable and 



118 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANK SMITH 

truthful in spite of their religion; but as a general 
rule no man's property, liberty or life, are safe, where 
the interests of the Eomish Church are involved, and 
human testimony, true or false, is to decide the ques- 
tion. This all history attests. 



CHAPTER XV 

Startling Facts respecting Eomanism. 

In view of the preceding narrative, and the vast im- 
portance of the issue now being pressed upon the 
American people, we call attention to certain moment- 
ous facts bearing upon the American Eoman question. 

1. Romanism is fore-doomed ly the Word of God 
and must ultimately perish. The *' Man of Sin," 2 
Thess. ii. 3, is to be "destroyed;" and ''Babylon," 
Rev. xvii. 2, 21, is to be " thrown down, and found no 
more at all." This heaven-revealed destiny should be 
borne in mind by every true Christian. Whatever 
temporary triumphs she may jei achieve in certain 
locahties, or blood she may yet shed to vindicate her 
hell-born assumptions and heresies, her doom is writ- 
ten, and the vision hasteth to its accomplishment. 

2. Romanism is dtjing throxighout Europe, In Ire- 
land, Austria, Italy, Rome, and France, it is smitten 
with incurable decay. Throughout the dominion of 
Victor Emanuel every convent, male and female, has 
been sold out at public vendue by order of the govern- 
ment, and it is but little better in Austria. 

Dr. Stevens, who has just returned from Europe, 



BY THE KOMAISr CATHOLICS. 119 

tlius wrote to the Christian Advocate during his ab- 
sence : 

Popery is doomed in Europe. * * * Even in France itself it is 
well observed that the Papal reaction is confined to the imperial 
policy, and to the hierarchy as a part of the machinery of that 
policy. The intellect and congcience of France go not with it, 
though they succnmb to it. 

Again : 

Protestantism, if not by its inherent evangelical force, yet by the 
impulses of the advanced civilization wMch it has produced, is evi- 
dently fast gaining predominance in all Western Europe. The de- 
cadence of Popery in Italy itself, where it is now sustained (as a 
State power) only by the bayonets of France, its late defeat in 
Austria, where the policy of Count Beust has overturned its last 
Concordat, but especially the irapotency of the Vatican policy 
itself, in aU its late demonstrations, show that it is smitten with 
incurable declension, and is tumbling into the abyss of the effete 
past. 

Dr. Bellows, writing from Kome itself, says : 

It is hard to find an intelligent man not a priest or a recent con- 
vert, in the Koman Catholic church, who does not speak sneer- 
ingly, disparagingly, or railingly against it. Judging by the state 
of public sentiment, as expressed by the thinking or talking men 
and women in Catholic Europe, you would declare the Eoman 
Catholic church an ocular illusion, or at best a vast ecclesiastical 
mansion in ruins, but too big to crumble out of sight, after having 
been so long deserted by its whole inhabitants. 

Eev. W. G. Morehead, writing from Sarzana, north- 
ern Italy, says : 

Time was when the Eomish churches were crowded with an 
ignorant, docile, believing multitude ; now they are comparatively 
empty. The priests and canonicals howl their meaningless, unin- 



120 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

telligible liturgies to themselves. A few old women, and as many 
beggarly old men, constitute their audiences. Ask any one if he 
believes in the dogmas of infallibility and purgatory, or the power 
of the priest to absolve from sin, and the reply is, in forty-five 
cases out of fifty, an emphatic no. In one word, Koman Catholi- 
cism, as it was once in Italy, is dead. 

Of tlie unanimity of the Italians as to the abolition 
of the temporal power of the Pope, Mr. Morehead 
thus writes : 

Were the question of the temporal power to be s(/lved by a uni- 
versal and untrammeled Vote in Italy, there is not the leaut doubt 
but that twenty- three millions would cast their ballots against, and 
perJiaps two millions for it. And twenty millions of Italians would 
to-morrow vote for the removal of the Pope, with his cardinals 
and all their crew, to Malta, or Jerusalem, or China. 

And if such is the state of things at the heart, what 
must be the condition of the system as a w^hole. 

At Prague, in Bohemia, where John Huss was 
burned alive by the CathoUcs for heresy, in July, 1415, 
and Jerome, in May, 1416, there is about to be estab- 
lished a memorial college, for the training of Gospel 
ministers. An English correspondent of the Provin- 
cial Wesleyan, of Halifax, says : 

Bible depots are opened throughout the various Austrian states ; 
and in Prague, where the Bible was once burned, there is now an 
annual average sale of 13,000 copies. The people are educating 
their children in their own faith, and favorable opportunities are 
being presented for the preaching and teaching of the pure Gospel 
of Christ. 

In Ireland, the population decreased 3,832,457 from 
1841 to 1861, or over forty per cent. ; and the Catholic 
population has decreased by death, emigration, and 



BY THE EOMAN CATHOLICS. 121 

conversion to Christ, about seven millions during the 
last thirty years. This great breeding-ground of the 
Papacy is consequently landing fewer and fewer Irish 
Catholics upon our shores every year. For this every 
true American Christian will devoutly thank his God. 
While France is nominally Catholic, and is to-day the 
strongest piUar that Eomanism has on earth, it is 
nevertheless leavened with Protestantism and con- 
tempt of the Papacy, and cankered by infidelity from 
end to end. Of the city of Paris (and it is said that 
'' Paris is France ") the Catholic World recently said : 

Paris is not a Catholic city, but a city whicli v/as Catholic, and 
which Catholics are striving to reconquer. The Revohition abol- 
ished the Catholic Church and exterminated its clergy; and with 
all the efforts and zeal of the Catholics they have only gained a 
large minority of the people to any real faith and connection with 
their establishment. 

To this we may add that there are now in France 
about two millions of Protestants, led on by a thou- 
sand faithful pastors, and their numbers are daily in- 
creasing. It is estimated that there are fifteen thou- 
sand Protestants in Paris alone. Fifty years ago 
there was not a Protestant rehgious periodical in all 
France, now there are over twenty. 

But we have no room here to extend these proofs."^ 



* Should the reader desire a perfect armory of facts and figures 
upon the present status of Eomanism in Europe and America, such 
as can be found no where else, let him inclose his address and fifty 
cents to the writer, and a large octavo pam.phlet upon the subject 
will be sent by mail. 



122 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

3. It is but little better off in the Dominion of Cana- 
da, South America^ and Mexico. 

In the latter Eepublic especially, it is virtually over- 
thrown. The death of MaxamiKan was its death blow. 
Its monasteries and nunneries, as in Italy, have been 
confiscated and sold, and even the churches are all in 
the hands of the Juarez government. The priests are 
even forbidden by law to appear in the streets in their 
sacerdotal robes. The Bible is freely circulated every- 
where, in spite of the indignant priesthood, and a 
Protestant minister is probably more safe there to-day 
than he is in the Papal city of New York. 

4. While Hom^anism is dying everijichere else^ it is 
maJcing a desperate effort to get control of the United 
States. 

Of this no evidence need here be adduced. Already 
they have the whole land mapped out into seven Prov- 
inces, with an archbishop at the head of each ; fifty- 
three episcopal sees, and as many bishops ; eight 
vicars-apostolic, with their vicarates ; and three thousand 
two hundred and forty-eight priests, and nine hundred 
and thirteen clerical students in their colleges. They 
have thirty-two different periodicals, some twenty 
bookstores, over fifty colleges, and nearly three hundred 
monasteries and nunneries. From 1850 to 1860 their 
increase in churches was one hundred and eight per 
cent., while that of the M. E. Church, even, was but 
fifty per cent. The average value of their churches is 
six and a half times as much as the average of our Meth- 
dist churches ; so that the eight hundred and sixteen 
churches they have built since 1860, are worth more 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 123 

than four times as much as those built by the M. E. 
Church during the same period, notwithstanding the 
numerous good churches we have been building all 
over the land. In nearly every large city an immense 
cathedral, costing from $300,000 to $1,000,000, is either 
completed or in process of erection. Away in the 
West, at Lawrence and at Omahaw, their immense 
churches and college buildings astonish the traveler. 
They are getting possession of the best sites for build- 
ings everywhere, and their real estate is already of im- 
mense value. The vast amounts in New York and 
vicinity, shown by Mr. Brooks years ago to have been 
in the possession of Bishop Hughes, is quietly held by 
his ^' successor," to the value of millions, without tax- 
ation, and wielded wholly in the interests of Popery. 

In a word, Romanism already controls the commer- 
cial metropolis of the nation, and many other of our 
larger cities. With their votes they buy judges, sher- 
iJBfs, aldermen, mayors, common councils, boards of 
supervisors, judges, and legislatures. A conscientious 
man in New York recently told a minister that he was 
once oflBlcially tendered a Democratic nomination as 
Judge of the Supreme Court, (w^hich in New York is 
equivalent to an election), on condition that he would 
agree beforehand to decide in the interest of the 
church, whenever any religious matter should come 
before him. He declined to make any such contract, 
and another was nominated and elected in his place. 
And the Protestant lawyers of New York — many of 
them, at least — say, that there is no chance for justice 
in that city, in any matter where the interests of Ro- 
manism are involved. What a state of things is this 
for an American city ! 



12J: ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

In Chicago it is not much better ; and so of Brook- 
Ijn, and Baltimore, and Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati, 
and Oswego and Buffalo, and even Hartford and Bos- 
ton. Eomanism already has complete control of many 
of our municipal and State goyernments, and it is not 
a year since Father Hecker, editor of the CatJioUc 
World, and Director of the Catholic Puhlication Society, 
said, in a public lecture delivered in the Cooper Insti- 
tute, New York, that in twenty-three years the Catho- 
lics would have the, political majority in this country, 
— that it would then be their duty to take the con- 
trol of the government, and administer its affairs in 
the interests of the church ; and that it should be the 
business of his life to educate the Catholics of the 
country up to this idea. The " interests of the Church" 
means — Eomanism the national religion, and no other 
tolerated. 

At the same time Mr Hecker announced that Pro- 
testantism was dying out, and that it was to find its 
grave in the United States — a reproduction of Bishop 
Hughes's prophecy years ago. 

5. It is doing its utmost to break up the Public School 
Systems of the several States, 

These are fatal to Eomanism. A thorough ac- 
quaintance with Arithmetic, and Geography, and Phi- 
losophy, and uncorrupted History, is sure to unfit 
the mind for the dogmas of Popery and for priestly 
domination. To make Catholics, it is indispensable 
to keep out of the mind science and general litera- 
ture, and to fill it early with superstition, and Pa- 
pal legends of saints and false miracles. Hence 



BY TnE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 125 

the grand assault — East, West and Central — upon 
the Common School System of the country. Their 
pastoral letters are devoted to the subject ; their 
periodicals pour out curses and bitterness upon the 
schools ; and efforts are being made in almost every 
large town and city to break up the system by getting 
part of the public funds, to support their sectarian 
schools. And in several instances they have suc- 
ceeded, one of which is in New Haven, Connecticut. 
And any man can see that if one denomination is al- 
lowed its pi^o rata dividend of the funds, another must 
and will be, and the system is inevitably destroyed. 
The only relief then would be to compel every denom- 
ination to sustain its own schools, and not tax Protes- 
tants to pay nuns and monks for teaching the dogmas 
of Popery. 

A recent Chicago paper says : 

There seems to be reason to fear that a more vigorous attack is 
to be made by the Roman Catholics upon the unsectarian system 
of free schools. The German Catholic tjnion, which recently met 
in this city, is a well organized and enthusiastic army of laymen, 
which is ready to enforce the well known opposition of the priest- 
Lood to our Common School System. Three resolutions whicli 
they passed will show their animus. The first urges that Catholic 
children be sent only to Catholic schools ; the second that each 
member " exert his personal influence, that more good Catholics be 
appointed as teachers in the public schools ;" and the third reso- 
lution suggests to the American Catholic Episcopacy '' the propri- 
ety of petitioning the State governments to obtain a proportionate 
share of the school fund in the States " for distinctively Catholic 
schools. 

Another Western paper says : 

Bishop Randall, of Colorado, has recently made the discovery 
that the ''ground which he supposed entirely fallow and neglected, 
he found to be full of Jesuitical laborers who had been long at 
work. Btate money to the amount of $30,000 had been granted to 



126 ABDUCTION OF MAKY ANN SMITH 

their schools, while most of the Protestant young ladies of Denver , 

City, and the neighborhood, are their regular pupils ; and the next ^ 

generation of Colorado bids fair to be educated with as intense a : 

hatred to our reformed religion and free institutions as are the hi- ■ 

dalgos of Spain or the peasantry of Connemara. i 

i 
This does not relate so much to Common Schools, 

as to the kind of education that Eomanism is giving to 

its pupils. 

6. They are resorting to every conceivaUe expedient to 
destroy our American Sahhath, and make the first day of 
the tveeJc a mere holiday. 

Witness the Sabbath parades and processions, with 
bands of music, in nearly all our large cities, during 
the past year, upon the Holy Sabbath, disturbing pub- 
lic worship, and in several cases preventing ministers 
from getting to their pulpits at all, on account of the 
crowd. In other cases pay lectures and concerts on 
Sabbath evenings are resorted to ; and in still others, 
fairs have been kept open, and gambling carried on, 
after the fashion of the Catholic priests in Mexico. 
In Pittsburg, after the consecration of a Bishop, they 
had a great consecration dinner, with a long list of 
wines and ales, and brandies and whiskies, in the bill, 
and several of the bishops got gloriously drunk — all on 
the Sabbath. So says the Pittsburg Christian Advocate, 
in the very city where it occurred. In Cincinnati the 
mayor declared that *^the people of Cincinnati had 
repealed the Sabbath laws of Ohio ;" that is, that they 
had decided not to obey them, and he, as mayor, 
tacitly consented to the rebellion, in violation of his 
solemn oath to enforce the laws of the State. But 
Bishop Purcell wanted a Mexican or Parisian Sabbath, 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 127 

and tlie mayor must obey the bishop. And thus, lit- 
tle by little, Eomanism, in conjunction with the various 
forms of infidelity, is destroying the sanctity of the 
Sabbath, in the popular estimation, throughout the 
land. For when the Sabbath becomes a day for pa- 
rades and pageants, and concerts and fairs and amuse- 
ments, Eomanism can turn it to her own aggrandize- 
ment ; and not very well until then. 

7. Eomanism is already exercising a controlling influence 
over the Secular Press of the country. 

This is especially true of the Democratic political 
Press. Many of its editors, and we believe a majority 
of its reporters, are Romanists. Standing thus at the 
gates of knowledge, they keep back everything that 
will militate against the interests of the Romish church. 
To this there are here and there exceptions, but they 
are very rare. And the same is true, to some extent, 
with the Republican Press, though it is far more free 
and outspoken, and is generally Protestant in its tone 
and management. But Popery knows the power of 
the secular Press, and is doing more to-day to subsi- 
dize it to its interests, than all the Protestant denom- 
inations put together. 

8. Eomanism is to-day a political party in this coun- 
try, as much so as the EepuUican party is. 

It does not go by any party name, but it acts as a 
party. Who ever knew a Romanist to vote the Repub- 
lican ticket— especially an Irish Roman Catholic ? We 
have inquired for six months past for one such case, 
and have not found the first well authenticated in- 



128 ABDUCTION OF MAKY ANN SMITH 

stance. Yet we doubt not there are Germans, and 
perhaps scores of them, who are nominally Catholics, 
and yet vote the Republican ticket. 

The Neio York Tribune, of April 17, 1868, contained 
the following editorial note : 

J. B. L. writes us a very absurd letter, complaining of our state- 
ment that nearly all the Roman Catholics in our country are hos- 
tile to" the Republican party. He says, "I know a good many 
Catholic Germans who are republicans." We do not doubt it ; yet 
the fact remains that nine-tenths of the Adopted Citizens, and at 
least nineteen-twentieths of the Roman Catholics, are hostile to 
the Republican party. We do not complain of this — they have the 
same right to their opinions that we have to ours — but we have an 
equal right to see and report facts as they exist. In the late Con- 
necticut election, at least Ten Thousand majority of the native-born 
vote was cast for the Republicans ; but this was overborne, as to 
the State ticket, by the foreign-born and mainly Roman Catholic 
vote. Many of these voters were virtually coerced by their asso- 
ciates into voting against their own judgment and choice. * * 

And it is high time that the American people be- 
gan to comprehend this truth ; for if we already 
have a Catholic party, it is time w^e had a Protestant 
party ; and the sooner we have it, the sooner we may 
crush Papal aggressions, and the less Protestant blood 
may flow in years to come. 

9. Romanism is already heing largely sustained by the 
various cities and states, as such, at the exjoense of Protes- 
tant tax-payers. 

The New York Tribune of June 1, 1867, contained 
the following : 

The New York Legislature made religious appropriations last 
year to the amount of $129,029 49. The remarkable fact appears 
that only $4,855 35 of this sum was for the benefit of Protestant 
and Hebrew associations, the balance being for Roman Catholic 
institutions. The following is a pai-tial list : 



BY THE KOMAN CATHOLICS. 129 

Evangelical Lutheran, St. John's Orphan Home, Buffalo. $9 93 
Free School of the Academy of the Sacred Heart, 

Manhattanville 346 04 

Le Cauteuxl, St. Mary's Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Buf- 
falo 24 62 

Orphan's Home and Asylum of the Protestant Episco- 
pal Church, New York 777 59 

Protestant Half Orphan Asylum, New York 1,304 87 

Eoman Cathoiic Orphan Asylum, Brooklyn. 1864 2,189 21 

Eoman Catholic Orphan Asylum, Brooklyn,' 1865 2,476 74 

Eoman Catholic Orphan Asylum, New York 4,340 63 

Society for the Protection of Destitute Eoman Catholic 

Children, New York 2,505 71 

St. John's Catholic Orphan Asylum, Utica 310 52 

St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum, New York 1,007 48 

St. Joseph's Male Orphan Asylum, Buffalo 318 90 

St. Joseph's German Eoman Catholic Orphan Asylum, 

Eochester 9 25 

St. Mary's Orphan Asylum, Canandaigua 26 21 

St. Mary's Boys' Orphan Asylum, Eochester 89 40 

St. Mary's Orphan Asylum, Dunkirk 423 04 

St. Patrick's Female Orphan Asylum, Eochester 238 75 

St. Vincent's Female Orphan Asylum, Troy 180 07 

St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum, Albany 766 63 

St. Vincent's Female Orphan Asylum, Buffalo 267 62 

St. Vincent's Infant Asylum, Buffalo 104 11 

St. Vincent's Male Orphan Asylum, Utica 213 90 

St. Vincent de Paul Orphan Asvlum, Syracuse 345 51 

The Church Charity Foundation, Brooklyn, 1864 118 42 

The Church Charity Foundation, Brooklyn, 1865 156 22 

Troy Catholic Male Orphan Asylum 448 72 

St. Mary's Orphan Asylum, Chfton (special appropria- 
tion) 500 00 

St. Joseph's Male Orphan Asylum, Buffalo (special ap- 
propriation , 1,000 00 

St. Vincent's Male Orphan Asylum, Utica (special ap- 
propriation) IT ; 1,000 00 

Buffalo Hospital, Sisters of Charity • 8,949 84 

Buffalo St. Mary's Lying-in Hospital 1,646 10 

Jews' Hospital and Hebrew Benevolent Society, New 

York 2,484 32 

Eochester St. Mary's Hospital 8,845 14 

Eochester St. Mary 's Hospital (additional special appro- 
priation) 2,000 00 

Buffalo St. Mary's Lying-in Hospital (additional special 

appropriation) 1,000 00 

Church of the Immaculate Conception, New York 1,000 00 



130 ABDUCTION OF MARY AKN SMITH 

St. Mary's Church and School, New York 2,000 00 

St. Bridget's Church School, New York 1,000 00 

Special Donation for the Protection of Destitute Roman 

Catholic Orphan Children 78,500 00 

Thus the Eomanists had $124:,174: from the public 
treasury of the State of New York in 1866, while all 
the other religious denominations combined had but 
$4,855. 

A grand scheme was presented last winter (1867) for 
securing an immense sum for the same unholy pur- 
poses, from the State Treasury. Here is a full account 
of the plan, also taken from the New York Tribune : 

A covert effort has been in progress for some weeks past by cer- 
tain politicians of this city, working in the interest of the Roman 
Catholic priesthood, to secure numerous special appropriations by 
the New York Legislature for the schools of that Church. The 
plan has been to include these special appropriations in the general 
list of "appropriations for charitable and public purposes " in such 
a way as to be passed hastily and without protest in the closing 
legislation of the session. In order that our readers may see the 
Romish purpose of the appropriations, we give the following items, 
found in the Assembly bill, among the numerous gifts for "hos- 
])itals, asylums, and other charities," relating particularly to this 
city and Brooklyn : 

For the Church of St. Mary, in the city of New York, to 

aid in the maintenance of schools under its charge, $5,000 00 

For the Church of St. Bridget, in the city of New York, 
to aid in the maintenance of schools under its 
charge 5,000 00 

For the Church of St. Vincent, in the city of New York, 
to aid in the maintenance of schools under its 
charge 1,000 00 

For the Church of Transfiguration, in the city of New 
York, to aid in the maintenance of schools under 
its charge 5,000 00 

For the Church of Immaculate Conception, in the City 
of New York, to aid in the maintenance of schools 
under its charge 5,000 00 

For the Church of St. Patrick, in the city of New York, 
to aid in the maintenance of schools under its 
charge 5,000 00 

For the school of the Church of Our Lady of the Angels, 3,000 00 



BY THE ROMAIC CATHOLICS. 131 

For the Church of St. Joseph, in Brooklyn, to aid in 

the maintenance of schools under its charge 2,500 00 

For the Sisters of Mercy, in Brooklyn, to aid in tho 

maintenance of schools under their charge 5,000 00 

For the Church of St. Peter, New York, to aid in the 

maintenance of schools under its charge 3,000 00 

For the St. Lawrence School in New York 6,000 00 

For the Church of St. James, New York, to aid in the 

maintenance of schools under its charge 3,000 00 

For the Church of St. Paul, New York, to aid in the 

maintenance of schools under its charge 2,500 00 

For the Church of St. Joseph, New York, to aid in the 

maintenance of schools under its charge 1,000 00 

For the Church of St. Stephen, New York, to aid in the 

maintenance of schools under its charge 2,000 00 

For the Church of St. Gabriel, New York, in aid of the 

maintenance of schools under its charge 3,000 00 

For the Church of St. Michael, New York, in aid of 

the maintenance of schools under its charge, 3,000 00 
For the Church of St. Nicholas, New York, in aid of the 

maintenance of schools under its charge. . . 2,000 00 
For the Church of St. Theresa, New York, in aid of the 

maintenance of schools under its charge 3,000 00 

For the Church of St. Rosa, New York, in aid. of the 

maintenance of schools under its charge 3,000 00 

Here we have a total of $67,000, proposed to be 
filched from the taxpayers of the country to teach 
Romanism in sectarian schools. 

To this we will add a full list of the appropriation to 
the Roman Catholics since October 1, 1846, when the 
present State constitution was adopted. The figures 
are entirely accurate, having been obtained by a care- 
ful examination of the official records : 

Buffalo Hospital, Sisters of Charity $126,394 08 

St. Mary's Lying-in Hospital, Buffalo 14,942 78 

Eochester St. Mary's Hospital 61,112 96 

Troy Hospital (Roman Catholic) 42,685 26 

Buffalo Widows' and Infants' Asylum (R'n Catholic) . . 2,782 91 

Academy of the Sacred Heart, Manhattanville 8,669 77 

Le Cauteleux St. Mary's Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Buf- 
falo 619 20 

Ronaan Catholic Orphan Asylum, Brooklyn ..,,..... 53 322 10 



132 ABDUCTIOX OF MARY ANN SMITH 

Eoman Catholic Orplian Asylum, Brooklyn 76,716 76 

Society for the Protection of Destitute Eoman Catholic 

Children, New York. 10,263 55 

St. John's Orphan Asylum, Utica 16,790 79 

St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum, New York 7,219 16 

St. Joseph's Male Orphan Asylum, Buffalo 14,280 49 

St. Joseph's German Eoman Catholic Orphan Asylum, 

Eochester 51 43 

St. Mary's German Eoman Catholic Orphan Asylum, 

Buffalo 1,250 81 

St. ^ffary's Orphan Asylum, Canandaigua 2,433 48 

St. Mary's Boys' Orphan Asylum, Eochester 430 47 

St. Mary's Orphan Asylum, Dunkirk 2,474 64 

St. Patrick's Female Orphan Asylum, Eochester 10,319 70 

St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum, Albany 22,385 79 

St. Vincent's Orphan Asylum, Troy 752 53 

St. Vincent's Female Orphan Asylum, Buffalo 9,023 89 

St. Vincent's Male Orphan Asylum, Utica 2,235 11 

St. Vincent de Paul Orphan Asylum, Syracuse 4,320 70 

Troy Eoman Catholic Male Orphan Asylum 17,548 03 

St. Joseph's College, Fordham 5,500 00 

Church of the Immaculate Conception, New York 1,000 00 

St. Mary's Church and School, N. Y 2,000 00 

St. Bridget's Church and School, N. Y 1,000 00 

New York Eoman Catholic Half Orphan Asylum 873 95 

St. Joseph Orphan Asylum, Lancaster, Erie county. . 842 97 

$519,242 81 

These payments are exclusive of those made under 
the legislation of 1867, and of the large sums voted 
for many years by the municipalities of New York 
and other large cities of the State. Add to this the 
amount appropriated in 1866, ($124,174 14,) and we 
have a grand total of $643,416 95, given directly by 
the State Legislature, since 1846, in aid of the Eoman 
Catholics. By a timely effort on the part of the Pro- 
testant taxpayers of the city of New York, this ini- 
quitous scheme was defeated, but was, to a large ex- 
tent, carried out in another way. 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 133 

10. Somanism is already setting at defiance the laics of 
the land, and is alloioed to do so loitli impunity by Catholic 
and other officers of justice. 

Not only is this true in regard to Sabbath laws, and 
laws regulating the sale of intoxicating drinks, but in 
various other respects. We have in New York a law 
requiring all clergymen to report to the Eegistrar all 
marriages consummated by them, with the date, name 
of the parties, etc. ; but the Eomish priests have set it 
at defiance from the beginning. They are not going 
to report their "sacramental" services to the civil au- 
thorities ! The pinch is, they wish the privilege of 
dating marriages hach, as they do and have done, for 
a consideration, in numerous cases. And so as to all 
other laws which come in conflict with their "reli- 
gion." They are already applying in this country 
their immemorial dogma, that the Pope is supreme, 
and the State and all human laws must be subordinate 
to his will. And it is to be decided very soon whether 
or not this shall be the rule in America. 

11. As if confident of success, in subjugating this land to 
its oion sway, Eomanism is exhibiting a spirit of intol- 
erance and defiance, hitherto unknown in this country. 

The Neio Yorh Times, of April, 1867, had the follow- 
ing: 

The Rev. J. 0. White undertook to lecture on Romanism in 
Quincy, 111., on Wednesday night; but the Hall was taken posses- 
sion of by the Catholics, and, upon his attempting to speak, he was 
hustled out of the Hall, and barely escaped lynching. At least two 
thousand persons were present, inside and outside of the building, 
armed with clubs, stones, and other missiles. An appeal was made 
to the mayor ; but he answered that the people had rights as well 
as the speaker. 



134: ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

Of this outrage the North Western Christian Advocate 
said : 

Distinguished soldiers of the war for the Union determined that 
free speech should be maintained ; and their determined bearing 
and inflexible will, cowed the mob, and counteracted the wicked 
course of the major. 

In the winter of 1866 the writer was delivering a 
course of lectures on Romanism, in his church in Jer- 
sey City, upon Sabbath evenings, when, just as we were 
commencing to speak, the Catholics stoned the win- 
dows, frightening many in the audience, and breaking 
seventeen panes of glass ; and the Catholic Press 
merely laughed at it, and charged us with procuring 
some one to throw the stones in order to charge it 
upon the Catholic church. 

Such is the veracity and reliability of the Eoman 
Catholic press. In July, 1868, Dr. E. M. Hatfield, of 
Chicago, preached a sermon upon " Romanism and 
Religious Freedom," on the Pope's Allocution respect- 
ing Christian liberty.^^ A few days afterwards (July 
29th), Alderman Sheridan, a Roman Catholic, offered a 
preamble and resolution in the Common Council of 
that city, calling upon the Mayor to issue a proclama- 
tion to silence Mr. Hatfield. The document failed to 
pass, but it none the less exhibited the intolerant 
spirit of Popery, here, as well as elsewhere. It has 
the will to silence every Protestant minister in the 
land ; but, as yet, it lacks the power. But let it once 
get the ascendency and its intolerant purposes would 

* For this stirring and powerful lecture, beautifully printed in 
pamphlet form, in covers ; send ten cents only, with address, to the 
writer at Jersey City. 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 135 

be carried out here, precisely as they are in Spain and 
in Rome. 

12. Romanism is closely allied with the "Hum and 
ruin " interests of the coiint/ry. This is notorious. A ma- 
jority of the liquor dealers in all our cities are Roman 
Catholics. Eev. O. P. Pitcher, city missionary in Wash- 
ington, D. C, took a census of that city, and the result 
was as follows : Out of 764 groggeries, 440 were kept 
by Roman Catholics ; or 57^% per cent, of the whole. 
And Mr. Pitcher adds, that *^ most of the remainder 
are kept by persons w^ho come under no Christian 
name, so that very few are in the hands of persons 
who, in any fair sense of the term, are Protestants." 
And such is the case all over the land. What would 
the world think of Protestantism if one half of all the 
rum-sellers in the land were Baptists, Methodists, and 
Presbyterians, in good and regular standing in the 
churches ? 

13. To this alarming array of facts, we may add 
that Romanism is receiving lo^rge sums of money every 
year, from the Propaganda, at Lyons, France, to sub- 
jugate this land to the Papal faith. Of this we have 
abundant proof, but, have not space for it here. 

All these facts being considered, w^e can but feel that 
there is great ground for alarm on the part of every 
well-wisher of his country. And this feeling of anxiety 
is coming to be very widely felt among all classes of 
our citizens; statesmen, educators, and the religious 
press. In one of his recent letters from Europe, Dr. 
Bellows says : 

There is an apathy about the Roman Catholic advances in the 
United States among American Protestants, which will finally re- 



IS 6 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

ceive a terrible shock. There is no influence at work in America 
so hostile to our future peace as the Eoman Catholic Church. The 
next American war will, I fear, be a religious war — of all kinds 
the worst. If we wish to avert it, we. must take immediate steps 
to organize Protestantism more efficiently and on less sectarian 
ground. 

Of the fact there can be but little doubt ; but whether 
he indicates the proper remedy is questionable. 

In a series of articles upon the subject recently pub- 
lished as editorials in the Christian Advocate^ Eev. Dr. 
Foster says : 

That there is imminent peril, no man in his senses can doubt. 
The abjects are themselves confident of success ; they are already 
organizing victory, and confidently publishing that America will 
soon be subject to Holy Mother Church. Do you say, Suppose it 
should, what then ? We have not the nerve to confront the an- 
swer to the question. * * * 

Our first duty is to become awake to the facts, to take in their 
full and appalling measure, to feel our danger, and then organize 
some enlightened Christian method of deliverance, and set about 
accomplishing it. If we awake not we we are undone, and at no 
distant day. 

Such are the views and feelings of thousands all over 
the land. We read it in almost every religious jour- 
nal, and hear it wherever we go. " Slavery is dead, 
and our next great struggle is with Eoman Catholic- 
ism." " If ever the Liberty of this Republic is des- 
troyed," said General La Fayette, "it will be by Eoman 
Catholic Priests." And thousands of American citizens 
are coming to feel that such may one day become the 
terrible fact. This anxiety, however, is a hopeful 
omen, as it shows that the American people begin to 
realize the situation, and the value of our free institu- 
tions Avhich they consider in peril. 

The editor of the Catholic World (October, 1868), 
says : '' The question put to us a few years since 



BY THE EOMAN CATHOLICS. 137 

with a style of mixed incredulity and pity, ^ Do you 
believe that this country will ever become Catholic ? ' 
is now changed to how soon do you think it will come 
to pass ? " They are hopeful and defiant, and bold to 
announce their premeditated conquest. 

But many who see and feel the coming struggle, and 
would fain arrest it, are in doubt as to the best meas- 
ures. "What is the best thing to be done?" is now 
the great question with thousands of the best minds 
in this country. We have not space here to answer 
this question at length, but may venture a le^v sug- 
gestions : 

1. We must not despair^ nor sit down in idleness and 
inactivity. If we do, Eomanism will triumph, our free 
institutions will be overthrown, our liberties taken from 
us, and our children become slaves to a corrupt priest- 
hood like the millions of Rome and Spain. 

2. On the contrary, we must resist its encroachnents at 
every step. As Eev. E. S. Atwood, of Salem, Mass., 
has well said : 

Fight it everywhere and always — in all lawful ways — with 
every legitimate weapon ; Fight it, till Antichrist loses heart 
and hope ; Fight it, till it is settled, beyond the possibility of re- 
version, that Protestantism is to rule America. * h« ♦ * 

If Catholics want to build and support churches, let them do it, 
but do it themselves. If they want their catechism taught, let 
them pay their own bills. If they wish to erect ecclesiastical hos- 
pitals and conventual asylums, it is their right, but the dollar you 
give is a wicked dollar, and were better cast into the sea. And 
there is some ground already yielded that needs to be reclaimed 
and held. Put back the Bible and the prayer into every place from 
which it has been ejected by Romanist opposition. Without doubt 
there will be men enough with loose ideas of liberty, and without 
rehgion, who will join in the priestly cry of intolerance, and talk 
about the w^rong of coercing conscience. It is time that the doc- 
trine was broached, that Protestants have conscieaces, and some 
rights which Papists are bound to respect. This is BiMe land, was 
90 in the beginning, must be so forever. Out of a free Gospel has 



138 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

come all of grace and strength we possess. Its spirit lives in all 
our good laws — our educational facilities, our institutions of be- 
nevolence, making life and property secure, giving every man a fair 
chance, lifting up and blessing the down-trodden and oppressed. 
Put that Bible in bonds, and you do deadly hurt to all that is best 
in our national life. We have a right to it in our legislatures, our 
schools, our homes. Let the people rise up and say, " Woe to the 
man or church that thinks to take it from us, in any of our rela- 
tions or interests." Let them swear a solemn oath, that that Word 
which we studied at our mother's knee, which some friendly voice 
shall read over our new-made grave, that that Word shall never be 
removed from the places of power in this land, while a voice is left 
to plead or a hand to strive.* 

To these just and stirring words, let all Christians 
say Amen ! 



CHAPTER XVI. 

What Can and Must be Done. 

There }>s a theory abroad, in some minds, that we 
must treat Romanism differently from other forms of 
error, that is, must not antagonize it, or denounce it, 
but rather conciliate it, and win it by ignoring its 
horrid characteristics. This we regard as an inglori- 
ous compromise and a delusion. The old prophets, 
and apostles, and reformers, resisted and denounced 
error, and sin, and false religions. Thus did Jesus 
himself. What would Luther and Melancthon have ac- 
complished if they had not antagonized and denounced 
Romanism ? We should do everything wisely, and in 
a right spirit, but there is not a reason why we should 
denounce Spiritualism, or Universalism, or Moham- 

* Anniversary Sermon of American and Foreign Christian Union. 
Boston: 1868. 



BY THE K0MA:N' CATHOLICS. 139 

medanism, or Mormonism, that does not apply with 
equal if not greater force to Eoman Catholicism. The 
history of the Dublin Union to Eomanists, by which 
five thousand a year have been converted to Christ, 
proves, that the first and best step to be taken with a 
Papist is, to expose his errors, and convince him that 
he is in the way to death. 

1. We must have no fellowship wdth Eomanists, as 
professed Christians. To recognize them as Christians, 
is to surrender the whole question. If the Papacy is 
any part of the Church of Christ, then why protest 
against it ? nay, why not go over to it? As it is essen- 
tially anti-Christian in doctrines, government, worship, 
morals and spirit, its history one of corruption, and 
oppression, persecution and blood, the motto of all 
who fear God and hope to be saved should be, "No 
Fellowship with Eome." And the man who advises 
such fellowship or recognition, either of people or 
priests, as " Christian brethren," advises surrender to 
the enemy, and is already more than half a Papist. 

2. We must preserve our Public School System at any 
cost. That is the great sheet anchor of our liberties, 
and the Papacy know it. Hence the desperate ef- 
forts to overthrow it. 

The free public school system is the citadel of liberty. The at- 
tenipt of any ecclesiastical party to control it to sectarian ends 
sliould be vigilantly exposed and utterly baffled. In this country, 
if the schools remain ecclesiastically free, if under no pretence 
whatever is any form of ecclesiastical authority permitted to in- 
trude upon their control, the efforts of any church at supremacy 
would be futile. Undoubtedly the hope and aim of the clerical 
party in this State is to obtain some hold upon the school system. 
The way to resist is to make the public schools wholly secular. 
There may be as many private sectarian schools as can be sup- 



140 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

ported. But the State has no church, and the State schools should 
be under no special church domination.* 

Knowing their avowed aims and purposes as we do, 
no Catholic should ever be permitted to teach in any 
public school, nor to have a place in any board of edu- 
cation. They are avowedly disloyal to the system, and, 
like all rebels, should have no part in its government. 
Especially should we resist all appropriations from the 
public school funds, or from the State Treasury, to 
sustain Eomish schools. 

3. We must maintain the Christian Sabbath against all op- 
position. The destruction of the Sabbath, in this land, is 
the triumph of Eomanism. Make the Sabbath a holiday, 
and we could soon have no Protestant worship. Look 
at the bull fight held on last Easter Sunday in Madrid, 
Spain, under the auspices of the priesthood and the 
nobility, at which no less than eighteen bulls were tor- 
tured to death, and several horses ripped up by them. 

Such is the Eoman Catholic Sabbath, wherever they 
have the power to make it so. 

"We must use all available moral means, but, if need 
be, must use other. There are in most of the States 
wholesome Sabbath laws; and if Eomanists set them 
at defiance, under whatever pretext, they should be 
prosecuted and punished like other violations of pub- 
lic order. 

"Why should a military man be fined for an ordinary 
company drill on the Sabbath, any more than a bishop 
for calling out a band of music, and disturbing the 
worship of half a dozen congregations ? And, if ne- 
cessary, there should be Sabbath Committees organ- 

* Editorial in Harpers' Weekly, June 27, 1808. 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 141 

ized in all large towns and cities, whose duty it should 
be, not only to remonstrate and protest, but to prose- 
cute all such public and defiant violation of the laws 
of the land. And so as to the refusal of the priests to 
obey the marriage laws, and to render a proper ac- 
count of their revenues or salaries — a thing which not 
one Eomish priest in fifty does. 

5. The Beligioiis Press must he more outspoken upon the 
subject than it has hitherto been. 

We mean no reflection by this remark, but simply 
that the American Eoman question now looming up 
before the nation, must be given greater prominence 
than it has hitherto had. Catholic periodicals are ever 
at work in the one direction of subjugating the country 
to Popery ; while the Protestant Press — or many papers 
at least — ^have seldom said a word upon the subject. 
A recent writer says : 

The press, tliat mighty agency in a free land, should lift up its 
powerful voice, and like a true watchman publish the approaching 
danger to all the land. Our journals will more worthily fulfill their 
mission as guardians of the common weal, by waking up the com- 
munity to the solemn issue before them, than by sending their 
reporters to tail off a procession of priests, and take accurate note 
of the man-millinery that graces the occasion. We have slumbered 
too long already. The people need light and Tcnowledge^ and when 
that comes the battle is half won. 

And the Press is one of the chief agencies by which 
this light is to be radiated, and this knowledge dif- 
fused. We beg of Protestant correspondents to write, 
and Protestant editors to print more upon this all- 
important subject. 

And whenever a Protestant minister can do so, he 
should write for the secular press in his oiun village or 
city. Most of the Eepublican papers, and a few of 



142 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANJsT SMITH 

the other party, will now print well written articles upon 
the subject. It is coming to be a great public ques- 
tion, and they know that many of their patrons feel in 
it a lively interest. And we should everywhere avail 
ourselves of this agency, as far as possible, to counter- 
act the designs of the Papacy. Reader, if you are a 
minister, do not neglect this duty. Write for the sec- 
ular papers in your vicinity. The cause of Christ, and 
the welfare of your country, demand this at your 
hands. 

6. We need and must have more Preaching upon the sub- 
ject, "We are the last to censure the American clergy, — 
the most laborious, self-sacrificing, devoted, and faithful 
on earth. But ours is a new country, and rapidly ad- 
vancing, with many excitements and counter currents 
to arrest the attention and absorb the energies. Slavery 
and its consequent war have been absorbing subjects 
for years ; so that we have really seemed to have no 
time or place for any other great interest, outside of 
bringing souls to Christ. As a consequence, Roman- 
ism has for years received scarce any attention from 
the American Pulpit, — we mean formal and thorough 
attention. We have hit the abomination a slap now 
and then, in treating other themes, but how few of our 
ministry have ever preached so much as a single ser- 
mon on the subject ! There has been here and there 
a Dowling or an Elliott, a Brownlee or a Berg, but 
their number has been small. For thii'ty years the 
writer had been preaching the Gospel, up to the winter 
of 1866, and yet had never preached the first sermon 
on Romanism, till special circumstances called his at- 
tention to it. And so it has been with others. Has 



BY THE EOMAN CATHOLICS. 143 

not the Pulpit of this land virtually withdrawn its pro- 
test? So it has been until recently; and while we 
have slept the enemy has sown his tares. But there 
is a glorious waking up of the Protestant Pulpit. 
Ministers are calling for facts — tracts, books, and peri- 
odicals — to aid in pulpit preparation ; and are speak- 
ing out nobly in all parts of the land. Thank God for 
this good omen ! May every "Watchman do his duty, 
now that the sword is coming; and God help the 
American Ministry to be as faithful and efficient in 
this our second great national struggle, as they have 
been in the past, in the great battles with slavery ! 
Header ! If you are one of God's Watchmen, sound 
the alarm in your congregation. If need be, send for 
fresh and reliable material, such as most ministers 
feel the need of in handling this question. Show your 
people, old and young, saint and sinner, what Eoman- 
ism is in its Doctrines^ Worship^ Experience^ Morals^ 
Spirit J and Antecedents! and what they owe to 
themselves, their children, their country, and their 
God, in this hour of peril. If you need tracts or 
books for circulation, take up a collection (if it be but 
five dollars) for the American and Foreign Christian 
TJnion^ forward it to us, and we will credit you for 
the whole in our Magazine,^ and will send you half 
the amount in just such things, as you need, for 
gratuitous distribution in your congregations. Above 

* Tlie Christian World — $1.00 a year, — is a 32 page montlily 
wholly devoted to this subject ; and the pamphlets named under 
" Announcements " (see advertising pages) are full of rich material 
for the pulpit, — jast what all ministers need, and can find no where 
else. 



144: ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

all tilings, brethren in the Ministry, preach on Roman- 
ism ! And do it soon and from time to time till the 
great question is settled forever, for Eeligious Free- 
dom and the supremacy of the faith of Christ. 

7. Our children must le enlightened upon this suhject, 
How little do they know of its doctrines, or character. 
or history. When or where have they heard or read 
any thing upon the subject ? Popery has a spy in al- 
most every family, in the character of a cook or cham- 
bermaid, so that eur mouths are well-nigh sealed upon 
the subject even at our own firesides. In the Sabbath 
schools it is seldom if ever mentioned, while in all the 
lists of Sunday School books in the land, taken together, 
there is not one volume on Eomanism in every five 
hundred. We have many catalogues, and have ex- 
amined largely, and are satisfied tliat such is the fact. 
What a state of things ! No wonder that the children 
of our Protestant families and Sunday Schools are 
growing up in almost total ignorance of what Eoman- 
ism is, and with scarcely a prejudice against it. 

Meanwhile, the Catholic pulpit rings on from Sab- 
bath to Sabbath against "the Protestant heresies;" 
and the thousands in their Sabbath and secular schools 
are not only thoroughly drilled in all their dogmas 
and superstitions, but are made to hate Protestantism 
with a perfect hatred. What is to be the result of all 
this God only can tell. But one thing is certain — we 
must have more said to, written for, and read by the 
youth of our land, in regard to Popery, or the next 
generation will be a pray to the seductions of Eoman- 
ism, and lost to the cause of true Christianity. 



BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 145 

8. We must resist all approjpriations from public 
funds to huild up Roman GatholiGism, We should 
know beforeliand, when voting for candidates, whether 
or not, if elected, they will help to rob Protestants to 
build up their enemies. And when a man is once 
known to have voted for any such appropriation, it 
should be the last vote he should ever receive from 
any American Christians. They do it to get votes, and 
we have no alternative but to let all such men know 
that they will lose more votes. than they will gain by 
such injustice and perfidy. Let us closely watch our 
Legislatures and members of Common Councils ; and 
if they betray and rob us to conciliate the Catholics, 
let us spot them at the ballot-box, as a solemn duty to 
God and our country. We must do it, or we are en- 
slaved and ruined. 

9. Protestants must fceep their children out of Ro- 
man Catholic Schools, as they would keep them from 
the gates of death. They are not only the poorest 
schools in the land, as to the advantages they afford 
for a substantial education, but their chief object is to 
pervert the children of Protestants to the Eomish 
faith. Hence Father Hecker boasts that in this coun- 
try the schools are the chief agency for converting 
Protestants ; and that seven-tenths of all the children 
of Protestants who are sent to their institutions, be- 
come Papist. And why should it not be so ? That 
is their great design; and eveiy thing is skillfully 
adapted to accomplish its object. And yet we hear of 
Protestants', and even Methodists' children in such 
schools, in various parts of the country ! 

10. We must use all diligence^ and all legitimate 



146 ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

means to get Roman Catholies converted to the true 
faith of Christ At the recent session of the East 
Genesee Conference (August, 1868), an evening meet- 
ing was held, in which some twenty or thirty ministers 
spoke of their observations in regard to the conversion 
of Protestants ; and some twenty different cases were 
reported during the meeting. There are thousands 
Avho were once Papists, now truly converted, and in 
the various Protestant Churches. 

And while we must oppose and resist the aggres- 
sions of the systeE&, we must not cease to labor for the 
conversion of the Catholic population. They can be 
reached to a certain extent through tracts and books, 
and especially if induced to attend revival efforts. 
They are usually emotional, and if the truth of God is 
once brought into contact with their minds and hearts, 
they are as likely to be awakened as any class in the 
community, and far more so than skeptics and scoffers. 
Let us, then, ply all laudable means to bring even 
Catholic laborers and domestics under the influence of 
the Gospel of Christ, that they may be saved from wrath 
through Him. 

11. We whilst fully vindicate Seligious Freedom and 
the rights of conscience ; and let Eomanism know that 
men and women may turn from Popery to Christ, 
without being murdered, or imprisoned, or abused, or 
suffering any harm in mind, body, or estate. This is 
of the first importance. Tens of thousands of Catho- 
lics in this country are held to the system only by the 
dread of the consequences of renouncing it. 

We have before us a letter from an aged minister in 
the West, who has labored much among the Komanists. 



BY THE EOMAN CATHOLICS. 147 

He says : " There are thousands in our country who 
are ready to leave the Catholic Church, if they could 
be protected. They say, if they leave they will be put 
to death." This terror the Eomish priesthood are la- 
boring to deepen and perpetuate, as an important 
means of holding their unhappy followers in hand ; 
and this is precisely where Protestantism should first 
exert itself. The right to worship God according to 
the dictates of our own consciences, whether we have 
been Eomanists or not, should be fully vindicated in 
this land, at whatever cost. And in such a holy work 
every friend of civil and religious freedom should bear 
a cheerful and an earnest part. 

12. We must stop giving money to luild lioman Cath- 
olic Churches and schools, — "Who ever knew a Papist to 
give ten dollars to help build a Methodist or a Baptist 
Church ? And yet let a Romish Church be going up 
in a village or city, and they wiU ply every Protestant 
for money, and thousands of Protestants will give 
every year for such purposes, to secure trade, or to 
improve the town. Others, again, though professed 
Methodists or Presbyterians, but candidates for office, 
will give in hope of thereby securing Catholic votes. 
What an anomaly and what a sin is here ! A Christian 
giving money to build up Popery in the land ! God 
pity and forgive all such Protestants ! As well give 
money to a brigand to buy daggers and revolvers, 
with which to shed the blood of your children when 
you are dead ! Eeader ! If you have ever been guilty 
of this folly, however generous the impulse that 
prompted it, or pure the motive, ask God to forgive 
you, and be guilty of such folly no more. And warn 



14S ABDUCTION OF MARY ANN SMITH 

others not to imitate your thoughtless and suicidal 
example. 

Eomanism is very shrewd to get up fairs, &c., just 
before elections to bleed the politicians; and that is 
of but little moment, so far as they are concerned ; but 
let no Christian ever give one penny, either directly 
or indirectly if he can avoid it, to build up Roman- 
ism ; any more than he would to help buy a barrel of 
strychnine to poison the Croton Eesorvoir. That would 
tend only to destroy the lives of men and depopulate 
a city; but to build up Romanism tends to the na- 
tional destruction, and the ruin of souls forever. 

13. We, must vote riglity as well as talk and pray 
right. To talk and pray for the religion of Christ, and 
then vote for Papacy, is another contradiction and 
sin. To disfranchise men because they were foreign 
born, was the error of the American party; for a 
foreign-born Protestant may be as loyal a citizen as 
one born here. But it is different with Romanists, 
whether foreign or native born. Their first allegiance 
is to the Pope ; and in any collision of our government 
with him, they would obey him rather than the gov- 
ernment. "We have a Roman Catholic party now — 
whether we wish it or not ; and the sooner Protestants 
unite and vote together, the sooner the rapid encroach- 
ments of Popery will be arrested, and the future well 
being of our country assured. And w^e must come to 
this within five years, or it may be too late to retrieve 
what we shall have lost in less than that period. 
Think of this, ye who have votes to cast, and let your 
religion and your politics go hand in hand. 

14. Finally : — All Protestants must unite in a common 



Br THE KOMAN CATHOLICS. 149 

effort, and work shoulder to shoulder to save these United 
States from the grasp of Rome, 

This is now being done in the support of the Ameri- 
can and Foreign Christian Union — an organization whose 
objects are to antagonize Romanism here and every- 
where, by tracts, and books, and magazines, and lec- 
tures, and sermons, and missions. The principal de- 
nominations are already engaged in it, and the M. E. 
Church is fast wheeling into line, like the cohorts of 
Blucher, on the field of Waterloo. The following let- 
ters upon the subject, may interest the reader : 

Letter from Bishop Morris. 

Springfield, Omo, March 6, 1868. 

Eey. Hiram Mattison, D. D. : 

Dear Sir : I regard the American and Foreign Christian Union 
as a good thing, both as to the proposed object iu view, and the 
kind spirit in which it is prosecuted. Of course I approve of your 
accepting office therein. The Catholicity of the Union is very 
commendable, and should be sanctioned by all evangelical churches, 
as far as practicable. 

Wishing you peace and prosperity in your home, and in your 
official work, I am, dear Brother, as ever, 

Yours, in Jesus, 

T. A. Morris. 



Letter from Bishop Scott. 

Odessa, June 28, 1868. 
Eev. H. Mattisox, D. D. : 

Dear Brother : The American and Foreign Christian Union is, 
in my judgment, an institution whose agency is much needed ; and 
if managed with kindness, wisdom, and unffinching fidelity to the 
truth, must do great good. All true Protestants, ought to unite in 
it. The sickly sentimentalism of the so-called Protestants, who 
yet practically are the real friends of Komish pretension and delu- 
sion, ought to be sharply rebuked. 
May you be directed and sustained by infinite wisdom and love, 

Yery truly yours, 

L. Scott. 

The following resolution has been passed, in sub- 



150 ABDUCTION OF MARY AN^^ SMITH 

stance, by the Baltimore, East Baltimore, Newark, 
New York East, Providence, New England, New Hamp- 
shire, Wyoming, Troy and Upper Iowa Conferences : 

Besolved^ 1st. That we hereby endorse the character and work 
of the American and Foreign Christian Union as worthy of the co- 
operation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and commend it to 
the sympathy and co-operation of the pastors and churcJies within 
our bounds. 

The late General Conference, at Chicago, adopted 
the following : 

The special committee to whom were referred sundry papers 
bearing upon the American and Foreign Christian Union, beg 
leave to recommend action by this General Conference, as follows : 

Eesohed^ That we look favorably upon the objects of the Amer- 
ican and Foreign Christian Union, and we are gratified to have our 
people give to it of their funds, so far as in their judgment it shall 
be consistent with their local and other church interests. 

This is the only public organization in the land 
whose special object is to resist the aggressions of Ro- 
manism ; and it is doing a noble work. Its receipts, 
last year (1867) were $138,526 44, and it is hoped that 
they will be still larger for the current year. Its Ma- 
gazine,the Christian World (one dollar a year) — has a 
circulation of some twelve thousand monthly, and is a 
power for good wherever circulated. We bespeak for 
this noble Society the co-operation and support of all 
friends of a pure Christianity throughout the land. 



Such is the history of the Abduction of Miss Smith, 
and such the startling facts respecting Romanism, and 
what we can and must do if we would save our beloved 
country from Popery and ruin. 



Dr. Mattison's Theological Works. 

Z. The Immortality of the Soul, Considered in 
the Liglit of the Holy Scriptures ; the Testimony of Reason 
and Kature ; and the Phenomena of Life and Death. 400 pp« 
12mo. Cloth, $1.50. 

II. The Hesiirrection of the Dead ; Considered 

in the Light of History, Philosophy, and Divine Revelation, 
with an Introduction by Rev. Matthew Simpson, D.D., one of 
the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 400 pp. 
12mo, cloth. Price, $1.50. 

III. The Doetrine of the Trinity ^ and of the 

Divinity of Christ ; as against the Various Forms of Modern 
Unitarianism. Tenth edition. 18mo, 162 pages. Price, in 

cloth, 75 cents. 

IV. The 3Iinister^s Poeket Mitiial : A Hand- 
Book of Scripture Lessons and Forms of Service, for Mar- 
riages, Baptisms, the Reception of Candidates into the Church, 
the Lord's Supper, the Visitation of the Sick, the Burial of the 
Dead, the Laying of the Corner- Stones of Churches, Dedica- 
tions, Ordinations, Installations, etc., together with Practical 
Suggestions to Young Ministers upon the best mode of conduct- 
ing these various services. Adapted to use by all denominations. 

This is a long and narrow-paged 12mo in large type, and ele- 
gantly bound, with a view to its being carried in the side-pocket. 
Elegant morocco, $1. 
A pattern of taste and neatness — Christian Advocate and Journal, 
Every young minister, and most advanced ones, want such a book as this. 
It is elegantly gotten up, and arranged most admirably. Professor Mattison 

will receive many thanks for this little work, and we hope some profit 

American Baptist. 

V. Perfect Love : Speeches of Revs. E. L. Janes, Matti- 
son, Curry, Brown, and Buckley, in the N"ew York Preachers' 
Meeting, upon the subject of Sanctification ; with the remark- 
able Sermon of Bishop Janes, at the E'ewark Conference Camp 
Meeting, Aug. 18, 1867. 130 pp. 12mo. Paper covers, 50 cts. 
Cloth, 75. 

g^ Any of the above will be sent by mail, post-paid, 
on receipt of the price. Very little risk in sending. 
Direct letters, Bev. H. 3IATTISON, Jersey City, N.J. 



VI* JPopiilav Aniuse^nents : an Appeal to Method 
ists, in regard to the evils of Card-playing, Billiards, Dancing 
Theatre-going, etc. 9G pp. 12 mo, in paper covers. Price, 25 cts 

VII. Select Lessons from the Holy Scriptures, 

Adapted to Responsive Reading in Sunday-Schools. 216 pp. 
18mo, 30 cts. 

VIII. Sacred 3Ielodies for Social Worship. 

432 pp. 32mo. Cloth, price 75 cts. 

The most complete collection of such music in existence.— Zion'« Herald, 
It furnishes the best variety of tunes and hymns for religious meetings of 

any book extant. — Rev. J. W. Dadmum^ Boston. 
The best collection of hymns and tunes for social worship that we have yet 

met with. — Canada Christian Advocate, 

IX. A Defense of American 3Iethodism, 

against the Criticisms, Inculpations, and Complaints of a Series 
of Sermons by Rev. Edward D. Bryan, Pastor of the Old 
School Presbyterian Church, Washington, N. J. 64 pages, 
octavo. Price, SO cents. Replete with new and valuable 
statistics that can be found nowhere else. 

X. Sacred Sheet Music. 

" Let the Angels In," *' The Cleansing Fountain," " Jesus is 
Mine," '^ Heaven at Last," "The Voice of the Departed," etc., 
fourteen different pieces, "Sweet and Heavenly," 50 cents. 

XI Joyful Songs for Zion^s Fllgrims. 

The same pieces in elegant colored covers, 80 cents. 

XII* Sunday-School Cards. 

No. 1. The Lord's Prayer and Ten Coinmandments. 

No. 2. The Apostles' Creed, and a list of the Books of the 

Bible. 
Ko. 3. Order of Exercises for a School, and Rules for its 

Government. 

These cards are on thick colored pasteboard, printed on both 
sides, and are extremely neat and useful. Price, $1 per hundred. 

^^Any of the above will be sent by mail, post-paid, on 
receipt of the price. Very little risk in sending. Birect 
letters, Hev. II. MATTISOK, Jersey City, N.J. 



ANNOUNCEMENT! 



The following Campaign Pamphlets on Romanism, are in 
course of publication : 

Z. Present Aspect of Romanism in Europe and 
America, and especially in the United States. 96 pp. oc- 
tavo — illustrated. 60 cents. 

t^ Full of the most important facts and statistics, especially for Min- 
isters. 

ZI. Is it Honest ? A Reply to the celebrated Tract of 

Father Hecker. 40 pp. 12mo. 15 cents. 
A complete refutation of most of the recent new dodges of the Jesuits. 

ZSE. Romanism and Religious Freedom. The 

great Sermon of Dr. Hatfield, of Chicago, July 26, 1868, 
upon the Pope's last Allocution. 24 pp. 12mo. 10 cents. 
One of the best things of the last twenty years. 

IV. Romanism and Popular Education. i2mo. 
48 pp. Profusely illustrated. 25 cents. 

Enough to arouse the most dormant Protestant. 

V. The Idolatry of the Romish Church. i2mo. 

48 pp. Illustrated. 25 cents. 
Such a pictorial demonstration as was never before printed. 

ITI. Romanism and Republican Institutions. 

12mo. 48 pp. 20 cents. 
Enough to startle every true patriot in the land. 

VII. Should a Priest Marry ? 8 pp. l2mo. 15 

cents a hundred. 
For circulation among Romanists. Has convinced several already that 
Romanism is false. 

VIII. The Abduction of Mary ILnn Smith, 

by the Roman Catholics, and her imprisonment in a Nunne- 
ry in New York for becoming a Protestant. 150 pp. 12mo., 
with Portrait of the Priest. 50 cents. 
A full history of one of the darkest deeds yet perpetrated in this 
country under the name of religion. 

^° Any of tlie above will toe sent toy mail, post- 
paid, on receipt of ttoe price. Or a complete set 
(one of eacli) for $1,75. Very little risk in sending. 
Birect letters. Rev. H. MATTISON, Jersey City, 



FOR MINISTERS. 



SOMETHING NE\A^ AND USEFUL. 



DEAR BROTHER: 

You are aware that in the absence of a sufficient supply of 
Disciplines or Rituals in our Churches, we are obliged, whenever 
we baptize adults or receive candidates into the church, as we 
read over the Covenants sentence by sentence, to read the answers 
also ; and then wait for the candidates to repeat them after us. 
This, to many, sounds too parrot-like and formal ; while to others 
it indicates a hasty and blind assent to that which they have not 
previously considered. To avoid these practical difficulties, and to 
make such occasions more interesting and impressive. I have 
issued a Beautiful Colored Card, 4x6^ inches, for use upon such 
occasions. Upon one side is the BAPTISMAL COVE]SrA:NrT, 
and on the other side the FULL MEMBERSHIP C0VE:N'ANT. 
They are designed to be put into the hands of Candidates as they 
stand around the Altar, or before they come forward, so that they 
can respond to the different questions intelligibly, and without 
our repeating the answers for them. The type is large and clear, 
and a set of these Cards, properly taken care of, will last for 
twenty-five years. Every city and village Church should be pro- 
vided with from twenty to fifty of them, to be kept in the pulpit 
for use whenever needed. Their utility is so great, and their cost 
so trifling, that we take this method of making them known to 
our fellow laborers in the ministry. 

By Mall Twenty Copies for One DolSar. 

If wanted, address the undersigned, JERSEY CITY, N. J. 

H. MATTISON. 



M EIGHT-PAGE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER 

Religious and Literary. 



This Journal is now in its EIGHTH year of liiglily successful publication. 
It is an able and devoted representative of the 

IIETHOTUST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 

and the Advocate op Lay Representation. It is Edited, as heretofore, by 
REV. GEORG-E R. CROOKS, D.D., 

Assisted by the following Contributors : 

Eev. ABEL STEVENS, LL.D., 

Rev. JOHN McCLlNTOCK, D.D., LL.D., 
Rev. B. H. NADAL, D.D., 

Rev. H. B. RIDGAVYAY, 

PiioF. A. J. SCHEM. 

Among whom are the 

BisJiops of the 3Iet7iodist Ejnscopal Chnrch^ and 
Mev. Hem^]/ Ward Beecher. 



1 M SliY IMY M fl8 ffi CU8EB 

Terms to Mail Subscribers, Two Dollars and Fifty Cents per Year, in ad- 
vance. Postage prepaid at the post-ofiBce where received, Twenty Cents per 
year. Twenty Cents must be added by Canada subscribers, to prepay 
postage. 

|^° Those who subscribe now for 1869 will receive the paper for the re- 
mainder of this year free. 

Any one sending THREE SUBSCRIBERS, and $7.50, will receive a fourth 
copy free for one year. t 

Subscriptions received at any time during the year. 

JB®* Liberal Premiums or Cash Commissions allowed to canvassers. 

SPECIMEN COPIES SENT FREE. 

Address j^E PUBLISHERS OF THE METHODIST, 

114 Nassau Street, Neiv Torh. 



TAYLOR & FARLEY 

ORGANS & MELODEONS. 



This firm commenced business, in 1855, with but two workmen. 
Their business has constantly increased without any extraordinary 
effort on their part by advertising, &c., till now they employ a 
large number of men in their Factory, in which they have ample 
steam power, and every convenience needed in a Factory of this 
kind. 

Iheyhave added to their facilities for manufacturing, machinery 
the most perfect of its kind ever made for making reeds — and have 
no hesitation in sayiflg the reeds used in their Organs and Melo- 
deons are superior to any others. 

They have numerous testimonials from leading Organists and 
Dealers who have purchased and used their instruments. They 
leave it, however, to an intelligent public whether the increased 
and increasing demand for their Instruments, and the satisfaction 
they give in every instance, is not sufficient proof that they are 
equal to any manufactured. 

These Organs combine two new and valuable Patents, of their 
own invention, viz., a Patent Knee Swell and Patent Manual Sub- 
Bass, with Octave Coupler. 

These Organs and Melodeons have been exhibited in Fairs in 
competition with all the leading manufacturers of Boston, New 
York, and Buffalo, and in every instance have been awarded the 

1^^ Every Instrument made by them is warranted for titr 
YEAES, and they are ready to make any necessary repairs not caused 
by accident or design, /?'€^ of charge, within one year from date of 
Bale. 

5^" A liberal discount to Clergymen, Churches, and Sabbath 
Schools. 

FREEBORN GARRETTSON SMITH & CO., 
Geneeal Agents, 427 Beoome steeet, N.Y. 

^W^ From personal acquaintance with this' firm, I can endorse 
them as worthy of the fullest confidence of the Christian public. 
New Yoek, October, 18G7. II. MATTISON. 



[l 1^ PRICE 



FIFTY CEXTS. 




ABDUCTION 



OF 



MARY ANN SMITH, 



BY THE 



ROMAN CATHOLICS, 



AND HER 



Jmpiiisonmeut in a ^unn^ij^t 



FOR 



BECOMING A PROTESTANT, 



By Rev, W. M.attison, D. D 



PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 



1868. 



a EIGHT-PAGE WEEKLY NEWSPAPER. 

Religious and Literary. 



This Journal is now in its EIGHTH year of highly successful publication, 
li is an able and devoted representative of the 

MMTHOniST HPISCOPAZ CHURCH, 

and the Advocate op Lay Representation. It is Edited, as heretofore, by 

REV. GEORGE R. CROOKS, D.D., 

Assisted by the following Contributors : 

Bev. ABEL STEVENS, LL.D., 

Rev. JOHN McCLTNTOCK, D.D., LL.D., 
Rev. B. H. NADAL, D.D., 

Rev. H. B. RIDGAWAY, 

Prof. A. J. RCHE^L 

^rtsji lermntiB k\ fminmt |^iilpt (Drntnrs, 

Aim on g whom are the 

Bishops of the Meihodlst Episcopal Church, and 
Hev. Henry Ward Beecher, 



I m mu WW m m m cbiumi ! 

Terms to Mail Subscribers. Two Dollars and Fifty Cents per Year, in ad- 
Vance. Postage prepaid at the post-office where received. Twenty Cents pep 
year. Twenty Cents must be added by Canada subscribers, to prepay 
postage. 

1^ Those who subscribe now for 1869 will receive the paper for the re- 
mninder of this vear tVf^e. 

Any one sending THREE SUBSCRIBERS, and $7.50, will receive i fourth 
copy free for one year. 

Subscriptions received at any time during the year. 

iS" Liberal Premiums or Cash Commissions allowed to canvassers. 

SPECIMEN COPIES SENT FREE. 

Addres, jHE PUBLISHERS OF THE METHODIST, 

114 Nassau Street, New Torlc. 






ibbaTs S K^/s iSubUraticrrts. 




Stier^s Words of the Lord Jesus. 

3 vols. 1st volume $5.00 : 2d and 3d vols. $3.75 per volume. 

Knapp ^s Christian Theology 8vo., 586 pp. $3 . 00. 

Bogue ^s Theological Lectures 2 vols., 8vo. $3 . 00 

Mosheim^s First Three Centuries. 

PUNSHON'S SERMONS ' 1 vol. 12mo. $1.75. 

FINERY'S LECTULiES.., 1vol. 8vo. $1.50. 

Words of Jesus and Faithful Promiser. 

32mo. 50c. 
Our Martyr President. 

Discourses and Orations on the Death of Abraham Lincoln. 12mo., 476 pp. $2.00 
Schonberg Cotta Family. 

18mo., 608 pp. 

Diary of Kitty Trevylyan and Diary ofBro, Bartholomew. 

18mo., 476 pp. 

Early Dawn, and Sketches of the United Brethren of 
Bohemia and Moravia. 

ISmo., 516 pp. 



JUVENILE S. 
The Mother ^s Bequest 16mo. SI. 25. 

Rev. Dr. Peck, M. E. Church. 
" Here is ^«(? beautiful, thrilling story, which young and old may read with much profit." 

Rev. Dr. Spear, Presbyterian Church. 
*' The story increases in interest to the end. The moral purpose of the book is good;'* 

Rev. Dr. Sewall, M. E. Church. 
" * The Mother's Request,' is excellent. I wish that it was in every Sunday- School library.'* 

The Brother Soldiers By Mrs. Mary S. Robinson. 

Forivard the Flag By Mrs. Mary S. Robinsox. 

Each ISrao. 75c. 

The Children's Centenary Memorial and Celebration Book. 

60 cents. 

Golden-haired Gertrude — By Theodore Tilton. 

Elegantly Illustrated by H. L. Stephens. Boards, $1.25 ; Cloth, $1.50. 

The Two hungry Kittens. 

By Theodore Tilton. Elegantly Illustrated by H. L. Stephens. 70c. 

Fodc's Marriage Certificate Per Dozen, 75c. 

New Marriage Certificate Per Dozen, $2 40. 



. Constantly on hand, a fine stockof SERMON PAPER, NOTE PAPER, 
VSTATIONERY, ALBUMS, a great variety of THEOLOGICAL, SUNDAY- 
SCHOOL, MISCELLANEOUS, and GIFT BOOKS. 

TIBBALS & CO., 37 Parh Row, New YorJc. 
^^ Any of the above sent by mail on receipt of the price, postage free. 




BRADBURY PIANOS. 





Received the Gold Medal at Fair of Am Institute, 1868 

THE BEST MANUFACTURED 1-WARRANTED FOR SIX YEARS!! 

Pianos to let. and Rent applied if purchased : monthly instalments received for 
the same. Old Pianos taken in Exchange ; ("r-sh paid for the same. S"Cond-hand 
Pianos at great bargains from $50 to $200. Pianos Tuned and R.^paired. Illustra- 
ted Catalogue sent on application. We refe^- to Bishop Janes. Drs. Durbin Sewell, 
and Porter, who are using our Pianos. A liberal discount to Clergymen. 

FREEBORN GARRETTSON SMITH & CO., 

Late Superintendent^ and Successors to William B. Bradbury, 

*2T Broome Street, New-York. 



From the " Christian Advocate^^'' of Sept. X2th, 1867. 
" We dropped in a few days ago at our neighbor's establishment in Broome Street, and were 
politely shown through the establishment whence come forth the famed " Bradbury Pianos." 
We were gratified to !earn that, notwithstanding the protracted indisposition of Mr. Bracburv, 
the business of the house has been kept in operation under the superintendence of Mr. F. C. 
Smith, who has been at the head of the mechanical department of the establisliment for a long 
time. We found among. the specimens of finished work on hand, some of the very best instru- 
ments that we have ever seen, whether estimated by their m.echanical finish, tone, or other 
musical qualities. An advertisement in another part of this paper informs its readers that this 
justly celebrated establishment has changed hands, and is now o\\ned and managed by Messrs. 
F. G. Smith & Co., who, having long been the actual managers, have now become the proprie- 
tors, as successors to Mr. Bradbury. Of course the peculiar excellences of these famous instru- 
ments will be continued, as they will still be prepared by the same hands, and under the sarrjc 
superintendence as heretofore. One fact that has come to our knowledj;'e we esteem important, 
and especially full of promise. — The new proprietors, who are worthy members of our Church, 
in entering upon their enlarged duties, feeling their dependence for success on the divine bless- 
ing, began their work by devoting a tenth of their proceeds to the Lord, to be used for benevo- 
lent and religious purposes. After that we can have no doubt oi their success, for in such *hings 
c^odliness eminently has the promise of this world, as well as of the life to come. 

From personal acquaintance with this firm, I can endorse them 
worthv of the fullest confidence of the Christian public. 

New-York, Sept., 1867. H. MATTISON. 











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